How to Hire a Ninja Maid
by Lang Noi
Summary: This is the last straw. After Mokuba's been kidnapped for the umpteenth time, Seto has had it up to here with his choice of bodyguards. So, for better or for worse, he follows his brother's advice to get a ninja. Follows anime and manga.
1. Desperate Measures

**A/N:** Okay, frankly all the dramatic crap I've been writing is getting to me. Exams coming up, death-by-college-searches, and so on. So I wrote this to unwind.

It doesn't have much of a plot, but I hope it makes someone out there laugh. I think there will be seven parts, but only loosely connected. So, have fun, everyone, as Seto and Mokuba attempt to find a new bodyguard.

* * *

She reached the end of the pier in a blur of motion, hearing the voices behind her as well as the engine humming. She dove before the lights ever touched her.

The water swallowed her, trying to force itself into her mouth and nose and eyes. It stung—freshwater wasn't as bad as saltwater, but that had been quite a collision—but she had better things to worry about. She slid below the water's surface after coming up for one last gulp of air, swimming blind. Touching a rock and one of the support pillars for the pier at the same time, she surfaced silently. It wouldn't do to make any unnecessary noise now.

Carefully, she reached up to touch the boards overhead. She had six inches of clearance—better make the best of it. The water was icy and lapped at her head as she carefully stood on top of an underwater rock so she wouldn't have to tread water, which was loud and always a death sentence in close quarters like this.

She heard feet on the wood overhead. She smiled faintly, or at least bared her teeth. They were talking.

"I'm telling you, I saw that bastard come this way," shouted one, and she wondered if she should move. This was a little too close for comfort.

"Well, he's not here now. I could have sworn we should have turned left back there—easy to sneak away back in the bushes," said another. He yawned. "No one would be able to find one small man in black anywhere around this lake. We should have brought the dogs."

The first one spat on the boards beneath his feet, leaving a gob of spittle to hit the hidden eavesdropper in the head. Disgusting. "I told you, there was no time to get them. Not with the way they were carrying on like someone used a dog whistle."

"That's your own fault," said a third, irritated. "What are we going to tell Takano-san?"

"No idea," said the second man, the most reasonable one. "But if we can't find the thief we have to come up with an excuse. A good one."

"It's a conspiracy with you two idiots running around," growled the first.

"Who was the one who forgot to feed the dogs before they _ate someone_?" snapped the third.

"That was months ago! And besides, you forgot to turn the lock three times. Our batons _melted_ because of the lasers!"

"Come on, you two. Those were both accidents…" said the second, but they weren't listening to him.

"And there was the incident with the baseball and the rubber duck—!"

"Oh yeah? You put glue in my toothpaste!"

"For the last time, it was revenge for letting your sister's little yappy dog get inside the-!"

Someone apparently decided that this was a good time to throw a thermos of some drink at the other. It missed, but their unseen watcher was suddenly wondering why her scalp was being scalded by green tea. She had to duck under the surface to get rid of the burning sensation before it got to her eyes.

By the time she came back up, they had apparently reconciled. Mostly.

The other two grumbled, but eventually agreed after much wheedling and pleading on their leader's behalf.

She slipped out from under the wood as soon as she heard them drive off, silently congratulating herself for paying off the head of security two days in advance. She swam on the surface for a while before finding the other shore. Under the cover of darkness and a well-clouded moon, she walked up into the woods and went to find a place to peel her catsuit off. She still had a job to do.

It was a long walk to her employer's car. At least it was mostly camouflaged this time.

"Did you get it?" he asked as she opened the door and dumped her wet clothes bag on the floor of the SUV. He wasn't that impressive visually—most of his features tended to put one in mind of a small, perpetually twitching rodent—but she thought of him as a very fat checkbook. He at least had the decency to hand her a towel for her hair, though.

"Yes, Mushi-san," she said in an even voice. She reached into her equipment belt and pulled out a rock the size of her fist. Broadly speaking, it was a gemstone, but most gemstones weren't black, and were cut more attractively. This one looked like a big black brick. She handed it to him.

Mushi clapped and took the giant paperweight with an expression of glee on his face. "Perfect. You're just as good as they say you are."

"Thank you, sir," she said quietly.

"Yes. Let's see, your payment?" he asked, stowing the tone away in the secret compartment that happened to double as a fold-away cup holder.

She gave him an even, eerily blank look. "Four hundred and fifty-six thousand-million yen."

Mushi scowled. "We agreed on less."

"We did not," she told him tonelessly. "You wanted a one-of-a-kind black gemstone for a laser weapon to be focused through, and it was inside the home of a wealthy collector named Takano Hideo, who employs two dozen heavily-armed security guards. The risk was great, Mushi-san."

"It was, it was…" said the small man, and she knew what would happen next. First would come the false reassurances… "You did a very fine job. You will get your compensation." And then the suspiciously subtle movement toward a hidden weapon… _Ah, there he goes…what a large gun…_ "I'm sure you have plans, so I'll just send you on your—oof!"

That was the sound a man makes when a woman has just planted her long, steel-tipped stilettos in his stomach. The shot went wide, cracking one of the bulletproof windows and ricocheting at such an angle that it punched a hole in the soft leather seats. And spooked the (underpaid) driver into ditching the car entirely.

Despite losing a very important meal ticket, she felt that it was a decent trade for her life. There was never any point to planning for your own future if you wouldn't live to see it. She kicked Mushi in the head for good measure and snatched the black stone from its hiding place.

With any luck at all, she could either fence it or just drop it off with the security thugs she had seen earlier. The brainy one had seemed like he needed a break.

She grabbed her possessions from the floor of the SUV and made her escape into the dark. A thought occurred to her after five minutes' worth of running—_This will be my last job for some time. My reputation is ruined._

And yet the thought didn't bother her like it should have.

* * *

Kaiba Seto (or Seto Kaiba, for the Western world) was not, by nature, particularly violent. With few exceptions, he usually didn't have to be. He was one of the few people on the planet who could claim to control a multitrillion yen business empire. He was also sixteen, and nothing ever scares you when you're sixteen. How else could the world account for the crash rates of teenage drivers?

Seto felt like being very violent now. For what seemed like the sixteenth time this year, Mokuba had been kidnapped. And it wasn't even summer yet.

Sometimes he really wondered what he paid his brother's security detail _for_. As far as he could tell, everyone he had hired to protect the younger Kaiba was supposed to be competent, efficient, and _worth the money he spent on their salaries_. In reality, the skills that allowed them to pad their résumés seemed to evaporate as soon as they were on the payroll.

Still—and this was the part that irritated Seto to no end—Yugi had come to Mokuba's rescue, and that was the only reason his brother was sleeping in the chair next to Seto's. His brother was safe, yes, but not because of someone Seto had _specifically hired for that exact purpose_, but Yugi. Yet _again_.

It was enough to give him an ulcer.

Clearly, some changes needed to be made.

Flipping his laptop open, Seto began to type. Having already fired every supposed security guard that had supposed to have been watching Mokuba (_Like they were __**paid**__ to do!_), now it was time to find replacements. He'd lost count of how many he'd had to hire since Duelist Kingdom. Maybe he was looking at this the wrong way…

He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stave off a headache. Usually he tried looking for ex-military types, the sort of men who would be able and willing to fight for Mokuba's safety. It was probably time and past to have different requirements in mind.

_Combat experience. Minimum four years._ That one would have to stay. He remembered the days when he and Mokuba had only had that creepy butler—that man had been useless. And had managed to get fried within an inch of his life by his own trap in Death-T, but that was slightly irrelevant.

He looked at the screen and eyed the line where _Male_ sat, quietly lonesome without any qualifiers. He deleted it—most of the bodyguards had been men, and that hadn't really helped.

On and on it went, with Seto industriously deleting what he now considered non-essential to the profile of someone he was sure would actually be competent. Maybe. If he played his cards right, at least.

After about half an hour, he rested his head on his upraised palm and stared at the screen. He was almost done.

"Niisama?" Seto blinked the tiredness and heard Mokuba push the long white coat off himself. Despite apparently being still mostly asleep, his brother wandered over to where Seto was still trying to decide on the last point. "What's this for?"

Seto looked back at the spreadsheet in front of him and said evenly, "I'm trying to decide who to hire to be your bodyguard."

"Hideyoshi did pretty well," Mokuba said, and then he added, "Until the accident, anyway." There was the start of a mischievous smile there, but only just. It was quickly overtaken by a yawn.

"Remind me to ask you how they managed to get lubricant everywhere." Seto said flatly, dragging the cursor over to the EDIT button. "The chicken feathers didn't come out of the carpet for three days."

"What do you have so far?" Mokuba asked, peering at the screen. He rubbed his eyes.

"Not very much," Seto admitted, and if it had been anyone else who was asking he would have inserted a snarky comment somewhere. "The past few months have been failure upon failure for the human resources department.

"See this?" Mokuba nodded, and Seto indicated the third line. "We want someone who can fight. We want someone who can deal with the stress. But after that, it seems like too much is left to chance."

Mokuba looked over the list. Then, after a moment of this-is-my-thinking-hum, he said, with a gleam in his eye that Seto mentally associated with manga and overdone sentai, "Let's get a ninja."

Seto dutifully restrained himself from bashing his head into the desk.

Mentally sighing, because he knew that there was nothing to lose by following his brother's suggestion (since it didn't seem like he could do any _worse_), he ground out, "Fine. What are the requirements for being a ninja?"

Mokuba's eyes lit up and Seto felt a sudden thrill of dread, the sort that most parents feel when their children start driving and being independent and otherwise doing things that _might_ get them horribly killed. This would probably go…_poorly_.

* * *

In the tradition of all small(-ish) towns everywhere, Domino City was buzzing with the news of yet another KaibaCorp stunt by noon the next day. And, in the tradition of slightly-bigger-than-small towns the world over, a crowd had already gathered near KC headquarters for a bit of street theatre. If nothing else, having such a publicity-based multitrillion yen company in the air led to a variety of interesting sights for the citizens who had the sense not to get involved with Duel Monsters.

Most of them stood in a broad ring around the grand staircase that surrounded the life-sized (or at least hologram-sized) statue of a Blue Eyes White Dragon. In the center, nearest the statue, there was a long white limousine and a fold-up table. A man wearing sunglasses and a dark suit sat at the table, and a long line of both men and women stretched back from him and into the crowd.

The sign next to him proclaimed, in large, computerized script:

"NOW ACCEPTING APPLICANTS FOR KAIBACORP POSITIONS."

Below, in slightly less ostentatious writing, it read:

"Idiots need not apply."

Below that, it said, in childish hiragana:

"But be ready for boot camp if you're interested."

Why was it entertaining? Sometimes, it was worth it to stand in the crowd and watch people get almost to the front of the line before skittering off. Their expressions tended to carry a bit of a story along with them, even if it could be somewhat difficult to tell if their thoughts were simply "No way am I doing something so hard for _that_ pay" or, worse, "I want to do this so badly but I want more money and benefits and _I'm bad with kids and I have halitosis and_—"

Eventually, the line began to shrink and the crowd began to disperse as the last few participants were led to ambulances by kind people, due to mental breakdowns from the stress of it.

In the end, there were twelve people who stood at attention near the limousine for final inspection. They were of all shapes, ages, and (unfortunately) states of cleanliness, which made Isono wonder if he would have to take a long, long shower after the "event" was over.

In this case, three of them were female in various states of undress, and most of them (to Isono, anyway) looked like cosplayers. Most notable was the woman who had a laugh that could apparently strip paint, even if she was rather attractive (if scantily-clad). There was a man who carried a sword that would work as a surfboard if it hadn't been made of metal, had the kind of spiky yellow hair that looked like it could be used as weaponry, and in a town with the King of Games in it, that was saying something. Then there were the two brats with metal headbands, of which the orange-wearing one seemed to be trying to strangle the other in the street for something the dark-haired one had said. Adding up that with the rest of the apparently societal rejects running around in the crowd, and Isono decided that the hated Sundays.

Isono sighed mentally and spotted a woman near the rear of the ranks. He didn't recognize her, so clearly she hadn't put her name down. He was a man who thought in clipboards. "Your name? Come forward, please."

She did.

She wasn't very tall, or wouldn't have been if not for the heels. She had pale blue hair—which wasn't really worth commenting on in a city where it seemed like every third person was trying to give the starfish-headed King of Games a run for his money—but also had purplish-red eyes, which were staring straight through him. Her expression didn't change when he asked her to answer a few questions.

"Do you want to participate in the gauntlet?" Isono asked.

She blinked once or twice, slowly, before answering in an even voice, "Yes."

"And you know what the trials will be like?"

"Yes."

"And you still want to?" He'd asked this question of every one of the twelve that had come before her. They just seemed to be the type of people who were too stupid to see a way out when it presented itself.

"Yes."

Isono nodded to himself and handed her a pen. "What is your name?"

The red eyes focused on him and Isono felt like they were trying to see into his soul. It made him feel naked, frankly, and gave him flashbacks to the time when Kaiba-sama was trying to figure out if he should demote him for things like embezzlement. "My name is Sonozaki Kotone, Isono-san."

He cleared his throat. "Very good. Sign your name here."

She looked down at the paper and her eyes narrowed slightly. "Waivers?"

"If you die, you won't be able to say that you didn't know there was a risk." Isono clarified, if hesitantly. It would be his life on the line if this ever got out.

"Good," Sonozaki said. Isono blinked. "It's only practical."

"Er…yes. Of course," Isono mumbled. "Well then, step into the car, please. The trial grounds aren't within city limits."

"Yes, Isono-san."

And off they went, all piling into the limousine and being carted off to who-knew-where. Isono was the only one bothered by their apparent enthusiasm. They were sneaking drinks from the wet bar, talking and guffawing loudly.

Except for the blue-haired woman, who just started sightlessly out the window. She didn't say a word.

* * *

**A/ N:** Thoughts, anyone?

Isono = Roland (the Battle City announcer)

The others character groups happen to include shout-outs to _Final Fantasy_, _Slayers_, and _Naruto_.


	2. Tournament Play

**A/N:** So anyway, this is the second chapter to the (not so) epic story that could be summed up as "What happens when Seto Kaiba decided to actually hire a decent bodyguard?"

Most of this is Mokuba's fault.

* * *

The human mind is not designed to handle certain things. Among others, it's usually a safer to avoid contemplating your place in the universe after just watching the infamous Blue Dot video or trying to look too deeply into the flawed logic and horrible implications behind certain TV shows, to avoid going insane or becoming depressed.

From the average male standpoint, trying to understand how a woman, who was probably fifty kilos soaking wet and had the muscle definition of a wet noodle, was beating every capable competitor in the physical challenges. It was a good thing that Seto was not the average man. Or teenager. Whatever. Isono had no idea how he'd handle the situation otherwise.

They had ended up taking a huge chunk of Kaibaland's "more ambitious projects" budget to build (or at least jury-rig) an obstacle course inside a closed-off makeshift arena that lacked any seats or concession stands but was otherwise nearly Olympic in quality, which would serve as a test of their skills under fire and in civilian applications (and for decades afterward would be referred to as Training Ground 666 by the Japanese army when they finally got the rights to it) and, given the extensive facilities the elder Kaiba had ordered, also be able to test other things like firearm proficiency, hand-to-hand skills, and ability to stir-fry anything. That last had been Mokuba's suggestion—Isono figured he'd been hungry at the time.

Other than submitting extensive designs, the Kaiba brothers had distanced themselves from the entire event. Though presumably they _would_ interview everyone regardless of how well the competitors placed, since their word was more final than any arbitrary numbered score, Isono hadn't seen them once at the arena. Isono just shrugged and assumed they'd show up eventually; the elder Kaiba liked to keep direct control of everyone's payroll and have the authority to fire someone at will (with extensive deliberation, of course)—the Big Five notwithstanding.

Looking down into the section of the arena he had privately dubbed Hellhole 1-B, Isono watched as the blue-haired Sonozaki woman thrashed the biggest male competitor with her bare hands. Or legs—she was very literally kicking his ass. From what Isono could tell, she hadn't needed to hit below the belt even once. The huge German man's ego was probably taking just as big of a beating as the rest of him was, especially since Sonozaki had declined to use any weapons because her opponent had not, and because she hadn't even bothered to take off her high heels.

In the other fighting rings, there was a brunet with green eyes who was determinedly roundhouse-kicking one of the headband-wearing brats all around the place, and some blue-haired guy with obnoxious orange sunglasses and more blue ink in his skin than Isono thought practical was beating the crap out of some guy who seemed to think he was a pirate—and mentioned it often—and whose wife sat by the sidelines with an expression of apathy on her face. Then there was a scream—the white-haired woman with the impossibly revealing purple outfit and whip-sword contraption had tossed the black-haired woman with the hideous laugh (that could be transcribed as "OHOHOHOHO!") into the water that surrounded all of the arenas. Isono tried not to stare and mentally made a note to take a long, cold shower after this.

Not far away, the blond with the sword like an aircraft carrier was engaged in a fierce duel with a brown-haired woman who dressed (barely) in red and white and seemed to spend most of her time trying to flounce around the ring. Or something. Either way, all the…_bouncing_ was rather, um, distracting. In yet another ring, apparently someone had said something stupid and now there was an older (apparently, god help anyone who actually called him "old") man with gray hair like spiky wings and huge gauntlets covering his massive forearms pounding on someone with a chainsaw grafted to his wrist (who reminded Isono of Chopman, but shorter and less like a Jason Voorhees clone), all while a man in a black leather jacket and hoodie and a slightly older man in yellow and black biking attire were apparently just trying to stay out of the stupidity._ Good_ _move there, gentlemen_, Isono thought.

Isono would never be able to predict the outcome of a Duel Monsters match because of the sheer number of combinations possible that could turn a match entirely around, but he felt a little more at home with straight-up fights.

Maybe that was why he'd shouted "LET'S GET READY TO RUUUUMBLE!" before everyone started mauling each other. The cosmic inspiration fairy had come calling.

Nonetheless, he wasn't all that surprised when Sonozaki was the one that walked out of the ring under her own power. Armstrong was carried out on a stretcher.

"What is my next event, Isono-san?" Sonozaki asked, not even looking winded.

Isono looked at her and then back at the clipboard by his left hand. Elsewhere, the tiny blond brat wearing orange was busy getting his ass kicked by some Chinese woman with thighs the size of her waist and huge spiked wristbands. "Report to Arena 3 to join the other finalists for the obstacle course timed event, once this event is over."

"Yes, Isono-san." Again with the monotone. It didn't get any less creepy when Sonozaki bowed deeply and walked away.

* * *

There were actually plenty of events that hadn't been on the list, as Isono found out shortly.

Then again, after watching Sonozaki accidentally send an oven into orbit and cause tofu to explode into soybean confetti, he wasn't sure if the non-combat tests were worth it. It wasn't like the Kaiba brothers actually _cared_ if the competitors could cook—that was what the hired chefs were paid for. This seemed just to be something to amuse them, though Isono had no idea if they were watching or not most of the time.

And after seeing the white-haired woman and the chainsaw-man go at it when the rifling range would only admit one at a time, Isono could only sigh and wish for an aspirin. He wasn't quite sure what he was being punished for, but he hoped he never so offended the Kaiba brothers again.

Sonozaki was the only woman to make it to the finals. Then again, there were only two fighters left and they had started out with sixteen competitors (since three more had been waiting at the arena when the group Isono led had arrived), so maybe it wasn't that bad of a showing. Besides, the ways some of them had managed to get disqualified or lose disgracefully was worth the hours of waiting, Isono thought charitably.

Both the hood-wearing man and the one in the yellow had opted out of the swimming course. Isono didn't want to know why.

The old man had thrown out his back after nearly breaking the chainsaw man in half. Granted, it had probably been a glorious fight, but Isono had been too busy with the next incident to notice.

Somehow, the white-haired woman and the other one with the huge rack and slightly more fashion sense had gotten into some sort of altercation that resulted in the former spraining her ankle badly by landing on her heels the wrong way, but not before her whip-sword had torn the other woman's clothes so badly that she was disqualified by virtue of this fact: her prospective employer was sixteen with an eleven-year-old brother he would rather protect from mental scarring. Defeat by the modesty of other people. She stomped off in a huff after Isono had Sonozaki get her some new clothes.

The tattooed one with the angular sunglasses had refused to even begin to comply with the company dress code, shouting, "Who the hell do you think I am?" Isono had called him a menace to society and told him to clear off. That, of course, resulted in another fight, but this time the two headband brats had tackled the man for some reason and Isono was allowed to beat a hasty retreat in peace.

The woman with the hair-raising laugh had been thrown out for trying to order him around. The Kaibas would never tolerate being ordered around by someone on _their_ payroll. Well, Isono admitted to sabotaging her chances there—he'd sent a recording of her laugh to the Kaibas and had gotten a very firm "**NO**" out of the older one. Apparently Mokuba needed a therapist now.

The Chinese woman had completely and utterly _failed_ the firearms test, as had the blond man with the huge sword. As in she'd nearly killed Isono, too. Orbital ovens were one thing—failing basic gun safety that badly was a terror.

That only left Sonozaki and the brunet who apparently could roundhouse-kick his way to victory against _any_ odds. The two were unfailingly polite, but Sonozaki was as eerie as ever and the brunet's overdone enthusiasm reminded Isono uncomfortably of zealotry. Both of them were competent but either insane or close to it. What a pair.

Still, he had orders. They assembled at the starting line and Isono grabbed a megaphone—he was back in his element. He loved being an MC; even better, the Kaiba brothers had finally decided to make their appearance.

"Is the final event starting?" Mokuba asked, walking over with his brother Seto stalking moodily not far behind.

"Yes, Kaiba-san, Kaiba-sama." Isono said, giving an awkward half-bow because he'd been caught off-guard while trying to launch into a speech. The brunet gave him a bemused look while, once again, Sonozaki's expression didn't change one bit.

"Then get on with it," the elder Kaiba said roughly, obviously short-tempered today. Isono nodded hurriedly—Seto was wearing his blue duster coat, which meant that there had been an accident at the dry-cleaner's again. He didn't want that anger taken out on him.

"Attention dueli—Wait, no. Ahem. Attention competitors!" Isono said into his megaphone, feeling the elder Kaiba's glare burning into the back of his head. "Are you ready to begin?"

There were two short nods, and the curly-haired brunet said, "Yes, my lord!" loudly. Sonozaki showed emotion for the first time that day—annoyance—and smacked him on the back of the head.

"Very well," Isono said, ignoring the breach of sportsmanship rules. "Go!"

Sonozaki seemed to vanish into thin air three feet from the starting line. Aside from her long blue hair trailing behind, she was a blur.

* * *

"She's fast!" Mokuba said in astonishment, staring as the blue-haired woman moved like a snake among weeds. Or possibly a shark in open ocean. Either way, she was burning through the obstacle course with almost insulting ease, dodging the flame and rotating blade hazards as if she was born to do it. The curly-haired teenager was keeping up, though, and once or twice came close enough to yank on Sonozaki's hair if he'd wanted to.

When she actually _ran_ across the steel cables linking two of the platforms rather than swinging along the rungs like a sane person would do, and as the green-eyed brunet was forced to, Mokuba said in awe, "She _has_ to be a ninja."

Seto said nothing. He was watching as the brunet was starting to flounder—well, not _starting_ anymore. One of the rope snares Mokuba had suggested had caught the teenager by his ankle and hauled him into the air. Seto was abruptly reminded of Bandit Keith for some reason, and recalled that Jounouchi had once bragged to him about giving the huge American a vicious beatdown. For Seto, anyone who managed to lose to that blond was a complete idiot not worth considering, though he had been the North American Duel Monsters champion before Pegasus had schooled him through magical cheating. Given that he'd been beaten by such a stupid gambit, though…yes, the teenager currently suspended from a support beam in the Mud Zone was indeed that big of an idiot. There had been floating stepping-stones there for a reason. In his mind, Seto had already disqualified that one for incompetence.

The blue-haired woman, meanwhile, was easily plowing through the spinning wood-and-steel Training Dummies of Death, apparently by just leaping from the top of one to another and so on. He had no idea how that worked.

"She's almost at the finish line!" Mokuba said excitedly, and when Seto actually bothered to _look_, he saw that the blue-haired woman was indeed already on the final platform. Apparently aware that she had no more competition, she walked casually to the finish marker and punched the red STOP button. Her time came up on Isono's laptop—3 minutes and 37 seconds.

Seto mentally shook his head. It _was_ a great showing, he'd admit reluctantly, but that wasn't enough. Without turning to Isono, he asked, "Who is she and what are her records?"

Isono stumbled briefly before thumbing through the sheets on his clipboard. "Ah…her name is Sonozaki Kotone. She tied for first in the hand-to-hand round, third in firearms proficiency, last in stir-fry since she somehow made tofu explode, and third in weapon combat…without using a weapon of any kind."

Seto raised his eyebrows a fraction of an inch. Unfortunately, Mokuba saw it. Seto could already see brotherly but still irritating interrogation on this subject later.

Isono shrugged. "There hasn't been an interview so far, Kaiba-sama. We don't know much more than that."

Seto gave him a Look and said flatly, "Then schedule one with her, and with anyone else you think might actually be any good. The rest can get lost. Come on, Mokuba." Spotting the blue-haired woman standing purposelessly at one end of the platform, he called to her, "Sonozaki-san."

"Yes?" she responded, apparently not noticing the teenager's distress or else not caring.

"Get him out of that." Seto said, indicating the brunet hanging upside-down from the pole. His tone brooked no argument.

She looked over at the teenager as if she had just noticed him. "Yes, Kaiba-san."

Not sure if she understood but unwilling to ask, Seto watched as she bounced from stepping-stone to stepping-stone to pillar and back again and, eventually, reaching the teenager and starting to climb up to reach the rope and untie him. All the while, Seto was calculating.

In lieu of any stronger candidates, he would probably hire her as a probationary member of Mokuba's security detail. But if she failed at _anything_, well, that was another paycheck he didn't have to balance and another security member he'd have to replace. It happened often enough. And better yet, he wouldn't have to manage her pension.

It was a win-win situation for him.

Isono nodded meekly as his employers left the building, silently thanking anyone who had been listening to his prayers. He hadn't gotten in trouble yet today.

* * *

"State your name for the record, Sonozaki-san." Seto said carefully, eyeing the recorder he had placed on the table to make sure he didn't forget his manners. This would be the official record in case something went wrong and he had to sue.

"Yes, Kaiba-san. My name is Sonozaki Kotone." Sonozaki said in a clear but bland voice. Seto kept his expression even. If she could keep a perfectly unreadable poker face, so could he. Despite that, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of unease. She hadn't broken eye contact once, and those red eyes were eerily similar to Yugi's when he had a personality flip to the "sadist" setting.

"Age?" he asked.

"I will be twenty-three next Sunday, Kaiba-san." Sonozaki replied, _still_ not breaking eye contact or blinking.

"Do you have any references?" he asked, trying to ignore the blank stare. He could deal with jealousy, rage, and a confident glare to match his own, but utter blankness was not something he was accustomed to.

"Yes." She pointed at the small stack of folders and loose papers near his left hand, but very politely. "You will find that everything is in order. I also have no record of criminal misconduct."

_That just means you haven't been caught_, Seto countered mentally. Though he had to admit that he had no idea what a woman with this sort of personality would even _do_. Kill someone by boring them out of their minds? Death by staring contest? Regardless of her abilities, Seto could already see that she was the blandest person he had ever met—well, disregarding the women that always seemed to show up at KaibaCorp functions with the intent to seduce him. They just pretended they had personalities. "I see. Your record is spotless."

She nodded, acknowledging his comment but not adding anything of her own to the conversation. It was like talking to a brick wall.

Other than his suspicions, though, he really had no reason to suspect her of anything. She struck him as the bland, unimaginative sort who would follow orders to the letter, and that was fine. For an actual bodyguard for Mokuba, one that would keep him _safe_, Seto could tolerate some creepiness.

He shrugged mentally and, hoping that this wouldn't be like the last fifteen times he'd picked up a decent candidate, said, "In that case, it seems like everything is in order. Pending a three-month probationary period, you're hired. And," here Seto had to keep himself from making a face while he pulled out the sixty-page document, "my brother has an addendum to your contract, before you sign it. He asked that you move your possessions into the mansion and live there. And that you disguise yourself as a maid."

Finally, he got a reaction out of her—she blinked and her eyebrows went up slightly. "As a maid?"

"Is there an echo in here?" Seto asked sarcastically, unable to help himself. "Yes, as a maid. The element of surprise is the best advantage in any fight."

"I understand, Kaiba-san." Sonozaki said, and she took the huge stack of paper from him.

Seto felt a brief flash of something—like static electricity or an insect sting—when she touched the contract while he was still holding it. He glared at his hand—Time to stop being superstitious, stupid, he told himself—and dropped it unceremoniously in her hands. "Sign here, and here…and here…"

It went on for what felt like hours. At the end, all Seto wanted was to throw himself into the new Duel Disk designs, but it was not to be. Meeting at three, as usual.

* * *

**A/N:** The various cameos in this chapter are as follows. Can you spot them all?

Alex Louis Armstrong from _FullMetal Alchemist _(sorry, needed a jobber).

Naga from _Slayers_.

Sasuke and Naruto from _Naruto_.

Kururugi Suzaku from _Code Geass_.

Mai Shiranui from _Fatal Fury_.

Heihachi from _Tekken_.

Ash from the _Evil Dead _series.

Guybrush Threepwood from _Tales of Monkey Island_ (and his wife).

Ivy Valentine from the _Soul Series_.

Kamina from _Toppa Tengan Gurren Lagann_.

Alex Mercer from _Prototype_.

Cole McGrath from _inFAMOUS_.

Chun Li from _Street Fighter_.

Cloud Strife from _Final Fantasy VII_.

And I have no idea what came over me to include so many characters.


	3. Free For All

**Free For All**

**A/N:** After this filler arc (yes, it's even a filler arc in this fic, nevermind the actual series), focus shifts back to the Kaibas.

* * *

Mokuba was the only one of the Kaiba brothers who ever came downstairs for breakfast. But like his brother, he never ate in the dining hall alone if he could avoid it—there was too much empty space that, honestly, made him feel very small and uncomfortable. Seto preferred to take his meals in his office, true to his workaholic tendencies.

That was why Mokuba wandered into the kitchen to find the cook and the newest bodyguard, Sonozaki, eying each other warily. Sonozaki held a tray with a set of dirty bowls and various plates and was standing about a foot from the sink, clearly intending to wash them all. The cook, a rotund older man whose name Mokuba couldn't actually remember at the moment, was just staring at her, his hand still on the burner dial.

Mokuba decided to break the ice as fast as he could—he was hungry. "Hey, Watanabe-san? This is Sonozaki-san. Oniisama hired her last week."

Both of the adults looked at him—Watanabe looked embarrassed, while Sonozaki's expression remained the same. "Ah, sorry about that, Mokuba-kun. It's just…"

"Oniisama isn't replacing you, Watanabe-san." Mokuba said as sweetly as he could manage. Granted, he wasn't that oblivious or immature, but sometimes it paid to act that way. "Sonozaki-san was hired as a maid, but she has very broad duties. She's just doing her job."

While both Watanabe and Mokuba knew that, generally, the kitchen staff took care of the dishes and things, Sonozaki apparently didn't, and Mokuba didn't want to embarrass her too badly. She was still new. There would be plenty of time for that later. "What's for breakfast today, Watanabe-san?"

"Um…" Watanabe looked back at the stovetop with an expression similar to panic on his face. "Um, miso soup and rice for now, Mokuba-kun."

"Sounds good!" Mokuba said, easily doubling the cook's enthusiasm. He turned to the maid and said, "Sonozaki-san, you can put the dishes down here. The kitchen staff's supposed to be up and around to get it. Come on, let's go. Breakfast should be ready pretty soon."

"Yes, Kaiba-san." Sonozaki said, slowly following him out of the kitchen and into the room beyond.

Mokuba got a much better look at her once she was standing in the full light of what he called the Actual Dining Room (so named because it was the place where people actually ate, rather than standing around sampling things on doilies). There were some floor-length east-facing windows that lit up the room very well during the mornings, and as he walked over to the table.

She was a head shorter than his older brother and didn't seem all that strong at first glance. Even in the modest maid's outfit that was the uniform in the Kaiba estate, she was sort of pretty in a weird way. And her light blue hair was shorter than it had been on the first day—Mokuba supposed that hair that long had been against regulations and someone had told her about it, since now it was cut rather plainly at about chin length. Other than her eyes, which were dark red and blank but certainly not threatening, she looked the part of a maid. Anyone who hadn't seen her performance during the trials wouldn't know how strong and skilled she was, and Mokuba silently congratulated himself for the plan.

"Did you have a good night's sleep, Kaiba-san?" Sonozaki asked after a while, apparently just out of a need to say something to the child who was looking at her appraisingly.

"Yeah," he said, watching as she pulled out a chair for him even though she didn't have to. As they were both seated, Mokuba added, "What about you?"

"It was enough." Sonozaki said, and that was a verbal shrug if he had ever heard one.

"Did you have any dreams?" Mokuba asked, never one to let a topic die.

"No." Sonozaki seemed to frown, but the expression was a fleeting one. "I don't dream, Kaiba-san."

"Why not?" Mokuba asked. "And you can call me "Mokuba-kun"—everyone does."

"I don't know. I just don't, and I can't remember having one." She paused, then, "Mokuba-kun."

"Sounds weird." Mokuba said finally. "_Everyone_ has dreams. Even oniisama, but he doesn't talk about them. Not even nightmares?"

Sonozaki shook her head. "No, Mokuba-kun."

"Well," Mokuba mused. "That could be good or bad. I mean, I don't always remember dreams the morning after, but they say you have dreams almost every night. But if you don't remember them, maybe it's okay that you don't get nightmares, either."

"I suppose that's possible." Sonozaki said, nodding. "Though I wouldn't know."

Mokuba said nothing for a while as the two of them ate breakfast together. Trying to get a solid impression of this woman was harder than normal, but it wasn't impossible. Unlike most of the people he knew, she didn't really seem to be hiding anything, but you had to ask questions the right way. And he'd gotten her to stop referring to him like he was his brother—_Or worse, __**Gozaburo**_—and just loosen up a bit, so he counted that as a minor success. After all, he was still a kid. Most people didn't feel like they had to constantly be on guard when it was just them and a kid who seemed happy enough just to ignore implications.

They were wrong, of course, but that didn't mean the ability to get inside someone's guard wasn't useful.

"Sonozaki-san, do you have any family?" Mokuba asked later, as he followed her while she went on her rounds throughout the building, dusting everything that even looked like it could gather dust.

Sonozaki glanced at him and said evenly, "My father. I don't know where he is now, and I haven't seen him in years, but I think he's still alive."

"Do you ever miss him?" Mokuba asked as she dusted the top of a lampshade.

"No, not especially," Sonozaki replied. She lifted the shade to get at the bulb. "He and I were never particularly close."

Mokuba made a face—he knew how that could be. "You're sure there's no one else?"

"No one that I was ever introduced to." Sonozaki said. She wandered over to what looked a lot like a trophy cabinet—Mokuba wasn't sure what the awards were for this time, but they probably had to do with KaibaCorp more than anything. If they were for his brother or him, he'd probably remember. "Mokuba-kun, are these awards glued to the glass surface inside?"

"I think so." Mokuba said, looking at them. "I don't think these have ever been moved."

"Very well," she said, and began dusting industriously around them as Mokuba stood back for a while so he wouldn't sneeze.

And then ninjas burst through the wall.

Okay, so maybe they weren't really ninjas and were more like black ops guys. And maybe they actually rappelled in through the window. Most likely, Mokuba has been watching entirely too much anime. Either way, the next thing that anyone knew, Sonozaki had pulled a glass shelf from the trophy cabinet and thrown it in someone's face, grabbed Mokuba, and ran.

* * *

Flipping through the incident report with freshly manicured nails, Dr. Taylor Hale wondered briefly if she should have gone out to find aspirin before even beginning to read them. While she had been in a good mood before (sort of), it was rapidly souring and she was feeling the beginnings of a headache.

"Let me get this straight," Hale began as her First Minion cowered appropriately, "you all entered the mansion in the most dramatic way possible, hoping to catch everyone off-guard—and it worked—and you would have succeeded if not for that meddling maid? And the cook too, I see."

The one with a colander jammed over his head nodded. He had also sustained a concussion at some point and was looking at her cross-eyed, which his second-in-command said was from being bashed in the head by an iron skillet.

"This maid—she escaped with the target while you were distracted," Hale pointed at the man who had his entire head bandaged. It might have been from having a glass shelf laden with metal trophies and awards hit him in the face that did it. "She then took the target on a run across the mansion until reaching the kitchen…"

The bandaged one made a noise like "Mmmph."

"Whereupon she and the sushi chef proceeded to school you in the art of improvised weaponry," Hale finished. Hale looked at the incident report and her eyebrows shot up for a moment, before she said in a deceptively calm tone, "I see a ladle was involved at some point."

The last man, with said implement bent so thoroughly around his arm that he couldn't flex his elbow and a dazed sort of grin on his face, waved. Apparently, he was another skillet casualty. Or maybe it was the wok.

"And then the target himself—who, may I remind you, is eleven years old—was then able to subdue the leader of this team using a teapot." Hale's long fingers stopped in their page-flipping and gripped the paper tightly. "A. _Teapot_.

"And now he is being held in the KaibaCorp detention center, with no access to the outside world and with any number of charges placed against him, possibly tempting him to betray our contract." She stood up, her long, dark hair coming loose from her ponytail and her glasses askew.

"WHAT DO I _PAY_ YOU IDIOTS FOR?"

"Well, Haeru-san," said one of the quieter thugs—Hale recalled that he used to be a Japanese salaryman—with two black eyes and scalded skin, "we were supposed to swoop in and grab the kid, because you wanted to use him to blackmail his brother into giving up millions so you could fund your bioweapons research—which never took off, by the way—and thus become rich by selling your weapons off to the highest bidder."

Hale stared, open-mouthed. After a moment, she regained her composure and mumbled, "Um, well…yes, that was the gist of it."

One of the others, the one with the wok dented resolutely into the shape of his head and stuck there, said, "I'd suggest you get a new evil plan now, Hale."

Hale said nothing for a long moment and everyone in the room watched her carefully. Then she went nuclear.

People several kilometers away could feel their ears burning and wondered why that was.

* * *

"…and it was awesome!" Mokuba proclaimed, grinning so widely Seto thought his head was going to explode.

Seto, meanwhile, felt like he was recovering from a heart attack. His first instinct, upon hearing the alarms blaring, was to find his brother and retreat to the panic room, or else confront the intruders with anything he had at his disposal. On a bad day, like this one, it could have come down to a hand-to-hand confrontation.

Against seven armed men in close quarters, it was suicide. He would have done it anyway if it meant protecting Mokuba.

Still, apparently it had been a good idea to hire that blue-haired woman. She could probably be taken off probation early. And the chef deserved a raise.

"Niisama?" Mokuba was staring at him suspiciously. _Time for a distraction_.

The sushi chef promptly provided one by raising his hand. Kaiba allowed him to speak.

"Kaiba-sama, if I may?" Watanabe said meekly. "Your phone has been ringing for some time now."

Seto glanced at it. So it had. And apparently the call was from the Big Five. Well, it wouldn't be a good idea to ignore them—he remembered the last time he'd been unable to counter their ambitions at every turn, and how that had ended with Mokuba being taken away by Pegasus. He'd never been so terrified in his life since the immediate aftermath of waking up from that coma that had let them take control.

He glanced back at Mokuba, who was still looking at him in concern. "We'll talk about this later, Mokuba. And Watanabe, Sonozaki, you're both dismissed for now. Get back to work."

Both staff members bowed and left.

Mokuba sat on the couch in Seto's office, clearly not interested in moving. Seto nodded at him and picked up his business phone. "What is it?"

* * *

Something had gone wrong. That was all Mokuba was thinking about as he and Sonozaki ran through the rain to the Kame Game Shop. Seto shouldn't have trusted those Big Five losers' attempt to get back in his good graces like that. If he hadn't, then…then Mokuba's niisama…he stumbled over that thought.

"Mokuba-kun, where is this game shop?" Sonozaki asked, grabbing his shoulder to keep him from falling into a puddle. "I may be able to…" She stopped.

It was raining, but not all of the water dampening Mokuba's face was rain. Sonozaki was at a complete loss as to what to do and her expression became completely blank again.

"Sonozaki-san, what is it?" Mokuba asked in a tight voice.

She paused. "Mokuba-kun, I can carry you to your destination. I have much longer legs—it would be more efficient."

Mokuba looked up at her. He wasn't going to depend on anyone for this. He'd do it on his own. It was his fault that Seto had been so stressed that he'd agreed to the Big Five's stupid ploy anyway… He shook his head firmly. He'd do this alone if he had to.

"Very well, Mokuba-kun." She fished around in her oversized purse for a moment and pulled out a tightly wrapped package. "But I insist that you at least use the plastic parka. It's not your size, but I had no chance to grab anything else before we left the Kaiba mansion."

Mokuba looked at the monstrosity—it was bright orange in the obnoxious way that didn't match anything about Sonozaki. It _did_ sort of match the shirt he was wearing, though. If she'd gotten it for herself, she was colorblind. _Liar._

Still, he put it on and they resumed their run through the rain.

* * *

Mazaki Anzu sat on the desks they'd piled in front of the door to barricade it, biting her lip as Honda paced around. After Mokuba had shown up, they'd come to the Kaibaland building as fast as they could. Yugi, Mokuba, and Joey had decided to go into the virtual world system—the glorified RPG, really—and try to rescue Kaiba.

That left Anzu and Honda to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

They'd been sitting around for two and a half hours.

Anzu sighed as Honda kicked a wall in frustration. There really wasn't much to do except hope for the best. At least everyone who'd decided to go in had a deck with them—even if Mokuba didn't play Duel Monsters on his own, taking Kaiba's deck was probably a pretty good precaution. For one thing, Anzu had never seen anyone else whose deck relied so heavily on overpowering everyone else's.

Well, it sure gave the kid a bigger stick to whack monsters with, if nothing else.

All in all, it wasn't really worth it to argue, was it? Anzu tried to relax, because all she was doing was driving herself crazy worrying about them.

That was when the first heavy blow hit the door and made Anzu jerk upright in shock. "Honda!"

"I know, I know!" There were cables and random pipes all over the floor, complete with a set of power tools for some reason. Despite the nonsensicalness of the entire affair, Anzu was glad they had options. Honda grabbed a small hammer and handed it to Anzu as they both braced themselves against the barricade. "We knew this was going to happen, Anzu."

"Not this soon!" Anzu argued, digging in her heels even though it wouldn't do a whole lot of good on the linoleum floor.

"What the—it's those brats!" shouted one of the men who was pounding on the door and making their barricade shake.

"It's Saruwatari," Anzu said breathlessly, recognizing the voice of one of Pegasus's enforcers—the one with hair that stood up like Tokyo Tower.

"What's—" _BAM_. "—he doing here?" Honda asked, jamming his shoulder against the upright desk.

Anzu spotted a hand trying to work its way into the room and brought the hammer down on it, hard. Over the yelp of pain, she said, "I didn't think Kaiba would take him back."

"_Saru__watari-san…come heeeeere..._" Everyone froze. That wasn't the sing-song of a pleasant little girl. Not even close. It sounded like a deathly rasp. Anzu was reminded of the old stories, the ones about dead women who came back to take their revenge on the world. Of _onryo_.

There came a faint, sharp gasping noise.

Honda gulped. "That…that sounded like…"

Anzu nodded shakily. "It was just like Kayako."

There was screaming on the other side of the door. Fog crept through the gap the thugs had forced open.

"Are we sure there isn't an onryo haunting Kaibaland?" Honda asked, looking at the encroaching fog like it was about to leap up and kill him.

There was suddenly a lot more screaming and a lot of metallic clangs. Then everything was quiet.

Anzu nearly jumped out of her skin when there was a knock at the door. "Who is it?" she demanded, but nervously. What she'd give for it not to be Kayako…

"My name is Sonozaki Kotone," the voice said tonelessly. "Who are you?"

"Um…I'm Mazaki Anzu," she answered.

"Hey, I think I know that voice." Honda said after a moment of silence. "Aren't you the maid who got Mokuba to us?"

The part that went unsaid could be summed up as, _And gave him that hideous coat-thingy?_

"Yes. I have disabled Saruwatari's group and called the police."

"Okay, but…" Anzu looked through the gap and nearly jerked back. The fog curled around her ankles as she took in the maid's outfit—she _did_ look like an onryo. She looked like Kayako with those eerie red eyes, the pure white makeup, and the white burial kimono that had been ruined by blood didn't help. It wouldn't have been so bad if Anzu hadn't decided to see _Ju-On_ on tape the previous week. But still, while Anzu had never seen an onryo, she'd especially never seen one that carried a bent wok as a primary weapon.

Sonozaki looked down. "I apologize for the costumed charade, but I was unable to come up with a better plan on short notice." She looked back at the group of groaning men. "It was difficult to convince the police to interfere in KaibaCorp business for some reason. In the meantime, the fog machine helped."

There was an awkward silence.

"As far as I know, Yugi and Mokuba and Jou are all right." Anzu offered. "They'll be back when they beat the game and save Kaiba from the killer video game."

"How long is this stupid game, anyway?" Honda muttered. "I hope it's not one of those insane RPGs like Final Fantasy. That'd take _weeks_ to beat."

Sonozaki nodded. She brushed her hair—wait, that was the longest _wig_ Anzu had ever seen—over her face again. "In that case, I'll prepare some tea for when they wake up. What type would you like?"

"Green tea." Honda cut in, attempting to yank one of the heavy desks away from the door. It didn't seem like they needed the barricade anymore.

Anzu thought she could hear distant sirens as the woman walked off.

"Honda?"

"Yeah?"

Anzu shuddered. "That was the creepiest woman I've ever met."

* * *

**A/N:** See Hale up there? If you read _Prototypical Evil_, you may recognize her. She's fallen on hard times. :)

Hale is (c) to DarkGidora.

Random flunkies are (c) THUGS-4-LESS.

Filler arc is (c) Konami, I think.

Kayako Saeki is from _Ju-On_/_The Grudge_. She's known for having freakishly long hair that can strangle people and her death rattle.

Saruwatari is Kemo in the dub.


	4. Canon Intermission

**Chapter Four: Canon Intermission**

**A/N:** Canon has more plot than this fic. However, I think it's going to get just a _little_ messed up.

And if you look at the scrollbar, this chapter's actually twice as long as the others. Thank you for waiting.

And also, I just realized that in the anime, the servants of the Kaiba household call Mokuba "Bocchan" (Young Master). Whoops. I blame the dub and my reluctance to download the subs.

* * *

The next day started out normally.

That is possibly the most ominous statement in the universe.

Anyway, the day started out normally _relative to the setting_ and the narrator finally joined the colorful cast. Apparently it was a day for arcade games.

Sonozaki stood nearby in a casual outfit (which was, frankly, something pink and frilly and something Mokuba was sure most women wouldn't be caught dead in) while her black-haired charge pounded away on some videogame that involved aliens. While she wasn't exactly sure why he wanted to come here when the mansion had enough videogames in it to last a lifetime, but apparently this was just about the only place he could meet all of his friends without having to ask permission.

Mokuba was happy—it had been ages since he'd been able to get away from working on his brother's latest pet project and, while he loved Seto, it had been driving him crazy. Mokuba didn't play Duel Monsters despite his brother's obsession, even if he thought the new Duel Disk system would be awesome once it got out to the public, and sometimes he needed a break and to get out of the house. Besides, ever since getting that Obelisk card after meeting that Isis woman at the museum, his brother was getting worse about the whole Duel Monsters obsession. Mokuba had seen that blue giant outright _crush_ the strongest monster in Seto's Duelist Kingdom deck, the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, and he respected its power, but still. It was a _card game._

Eventually, though, he was distracted from his crusade against the virtual alien menace by the sound of shouting nearby. He recognized that voice—Anzu! Mokuba bid his middle school friends to follow him for a moment and ushered Sonozaki toward the gigantic DDR machine stage.

Sure enough, it was Anzu—Yugi was in the crowd—dancing against someone with dreadlocks and a horrible fake tan. Sonozaki carefully prodded the audience aside so her ward's gaggle of middle school followers could get through without getting stepped on.

Yugi probably remembered most of Mokuba's gang—the Capsule Monsters thing had never really been resolved between them—but Mokuba still sought out the older boy. The hair was always very easy to recognize, and Mokuba thought it could probably be seen from space.

"Yugi!" Mokuba called, making a young man dressed all in black cloth and leather turn toward them. Yugi's hair was slightly different today and he had that same air of confidence that he did whenever Mokuba saw him duel…ah. Then it was the other Yugi who was out today.

"Mokuba?" Yugi turned to face them, looking surprised, but Mokuba just waved. Then his gaze shot upward—his red eyes locked with Sonozaki's as she stared back at him impassively.

The thought running through both their minds then could be summed up as "He/she is _creepy_." Though in the other Yugi's case it had a lot of background chatter from Yugi. And in Sonozaki's head it wasn't so much an admission of fear as an observation. The point, though, was that each thought the other was a threat.

Mokuba noticed—it wasn't like either of the older pair was really trying to hide the fact that they disliked each other immediately. "Yugi, this is Sonozaki-san. She helped Anzu and Honda keep us safe while we were in the Virtual World game, remember?"

The other Yugi paused, obviously thinking his impression of her over in the new context. "I see." He took a deep breath. "Very well, then. It's nice to meet you, Sonozaki-san."

She bowed. "The pleasure is mine, Mutou-san. If you are a friend of Bocchan, then I will trust you to take care of him when I am unavailable."

Mokuba gave a little yelp. "Sonozaki-san, I told you not to call me "bocchan" when we're not at home." His friends laughed, but not in a mean way. They already knew that Sonozaki worked for him and in any case they were soon engrossed in watching Anzu outperform the weird spray-tanned guy with the dreadlocks. Well, Mokuba would admit that Anzu was kind of pretty in a weird way, and the tube top certainly helped that…Mokuba shook himself.

"She lives with you?" the other Yugi asked, having also heard. "Bocchan" was only ever used by servants of the Kaiba household to refer to Mokuba—the older Kaiba was "Kaiba-sama."

Sonozaki nodded. "I have been a live-in maid at the Kaiba mansion for some time now, Mouto-san."

"I see." The other Yugi smiled then, just a little. "Stop by the Kame Game Shop sometime."

Mokuba cheered inwardly. They were past another hurdle! Now if only Sonozaki could make actual _friends_, besides Watanabe.

* * *

As Yami accompanied Anzu all across town, he thought back to the discussion he'd had with Mokuba and Sonozaki. Not distracted by the CD shop even as Anzu seemed to go everywhere, trying out all the latest tracks, he decided that he had come to a firm conclusion about the strange blue-haired woman. If only Anzu could direct them toward a card shop…

_Did you think she was creepy too, other me?_ Yugi's spirit asked from the Puzzle.

Yami thought about it. _Yes, though that isn't the word I'd use. Unsettling, maybe. Either way, I think we might have to keep an eye on that one in case something happens._

_Kaiba __**did **__hire her, other me._ Yugi pointed out.

Yami sighed mentally. _He also hired Saruwatari, and look at how __**that**__ turned out._

_Point._

* * *

Mokuba and Kaiba were in high spirits when they returned to the mansion. Well, Mokuba was—he was ecstatic and nearly bouncing off the walls, while his brother was eerily smiling like the cat that caught the canary. Sonozaki greeted them politely enough, and he managed to get to the TV and the PlayStation before his brother could tell him no.

And then the phone calls started.

First it was just one, from Sonozaki's cell phone. The conversation was about three sentences long and ended when Sonozaki said, "Yes, of course."

Then Seto's office phone rang. Mokuba stuck his head in the door to see his brother snap irritably at someone at the other end. Mokuba decided to go for the meek approach. "Niisama, what was that?"

Seto looked over at him and his mood brightened instantly. Nobody but Mokuba would have been able to see it, since he was still scowling, but it was something. Seto just shook his head. "Telemarketers."

Oh. How had they gotten past the secretary? Hell, how had they gotten his brother's number?

Either way, Mokuba excused himself and returned to his videogame. Sonozaki sat on the couch, having not moved an inch since the disturbances started.

A few minutes later, when the phone rang a third time and Seto started yelling at the person on the other end, Mokuba finally decided he couldn't concentrate on clubbing zombies to death if his brother kept trying to verbally eviscerate people. Time to take a break. "Niisama?"

Seto slammed the phone down before glancing at his younger brother. "Mokuba, what is it?"

"Um…" His brother was always busy. Even now, since the announcement of the Battle City Tournament last night, he was trying to manage a dozen suppliers for the new Duel Disk materials (which were, of course, figuratively flying off the shelves) and get his deck ready and get the tournament's administration center up and running, and Mokuba was pretty sure Seto hadn't had anything but coffee for two days. This wasn't the best time. "Um...never mind, niisama."

Seto stared at Mokuba for a few seconds longer than was strictly polite, then focused on the phone again and picked it up to call someone.

"Bocchan?" Mokuba glanced at Sonozaki, who was sitting placidly beside him with her eyes on the game. Mokuba glanced back it, too. "Forgive me for using the improper term, but I think you're getting fragged."

And, indeed, the zombies were devouring the chainsaw-wielding main character of the game. Messily. Mokuba yelped, "Why didn't you pause it?"

As Mokuba dove for the controller and started to get his character to fight back, Sonozaki said evenly, "You never asked me to. I was under the impression that the zombies were the proletariat rising against the upper classes, represented by a maniac with a chainsaw."

Stab. Shoot. RRRRRRRRRRRR. "Since when does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, I assumed you knew what you were doing when you left your avatar to die. It must have been a part of the game. Very symbolic."

Mokuba groaned. "Not everything has a meaning, you know! Sometimes you just make mistakes."

"I see. Never mind, then."

Just barely audible over the sound of the revving chainsaw, Mokuba could hear his brother tell the secretary that he would only take _extremely_ high-priority calls for the rest of the day. As in, "fire is raining from the sky" or "we're getting sued for something" calls.

* * *

Higurashi Momoko, Seto's most recent secretary (seriously, the guy went through secretaries like poorer men went through tissues), sighed and took her most recent caller off hold. "I'm sorry, Houjou-san. Kaiba-sama isn't taking any more calls today."

The voice on the other end was depressingly young. But you didn't get a job with KaibaCorp by being a bleeding heart. "B-but...I need to see Akiko-oneesama! The lady at the office said Kaiba-san hired her!"

"We don't have employment records for anyone named Houjou Akiko or Sonozaki Akiko. Sorry, and good-bye."

"Wait—!"

Higurashi ended the call.

* * *

Hale looked smug.

Hale was never supposed to look smug after a loss.

Yamato couldn't help but feel this was pretty damn weird, all things said and done. "Haeru-san?"

Hale glanced at him. "What?"

"Why are you so happy after that phone call?" he asked.

She grinned, pressing her fingertips together like she was trying to make a steeple in front of her face. "Kaiba's on the defensive and _we've_ got a mole in his security network. And he'll never know who she is until it's too late."

"Oh, good." Yamato paused. "What's a mole?" Because he was thinking of Digletts, and that probably wasn't right.

* * *

Day one of the Battle City Finals.

Day one of impending hell on earth in three, two, one…

Time to assemble the troops. Seto, of course, got them to gather in the administration center.

Looking at both his younger brother and the creepy woman he'd long since hired as his bodyguard (and who had a pretty good success rate, all things considered), Seto bit back the urge to say something sarcastic. Mokuba would stand out in a crowd—most of the Battle City duelists were older teenagers or adults, and one kid running around among the chaos was either a spectator or _that_ kid. Mokuba was pretty well-known among the dueling circles, mostly because of his brother. That made him a target. That wouldn't change even if he was wearing a yellow vest (lined with Kevlar), or if he carried Seto's bulletproof briefcase around.

Business as usual, really.

As for Sonozaki, he could almost honestly say she would fit in among the freaks that seemed to make up the majority of professional duelists. She wore a shirt that honestly looked like something that belonged in the closet of Kujaku Mai, a sort of vest…thing (Seto never having particularly kept up with women's' fashions) that basically just existed for fashion's sake, a broad white belt, skinny jeans, fingerless gloves, leather dog collar, weird cheap necklace (a black wing with a white dot on it) on a chain, high heels…really, the only thing that distinguished her as a KaibaCorp employee was the small armband around her upper left arm. She also carried a Duel Disk, like nearly everyone else would be soon enough.

The first and most important part of ninjutsu is the art of blending in.

"You know what to do if you get challenged?" Seto asked her, glancing at Mokuba.

Sonozaki inclined her blue-haired head. "I am to decline if possible."

"And if you can't?"

"I am allowed to defend myself by force if necessary. I must follow the Domino police department's Escalation of Force protocol."

"Which means?"

"I may talk my way out of a confrontation at low-risk levels." Sonozaki droned—they'd practiced this a dozen times. "If anyone harms or threatens to harm myself or Bocchan, I am allowed to escalate to pepper spray, tasers, baton use, and all-weapons-free combat at my own discretion."

"And your Duel Disk?"

"My Duel Disk is a modified-for-direct-combat version, edges sharpened and the device itself designed sturdily enough to function as both a club and a blade." Sonozaki drew a card. "My deck consists of thin steel blades with images of official Duel Monsters cards printed on them. They will register as though normal only on my Duel Disk."

Seto nodded. "Good. You're dismissed."

Sonozaki bowed again and left.

"That was pretty extreme, niisama." Mokuba said, boggling over the sheer number of ways his brother had managed to devise for the maid to defend him. "And where was she supposed to be carrying a baton?"

Seto shrugged. "I said it was up to her. Now, let's get back to business. The tournament starts at noon, and I want to see who gets in a duel first." _You'd better not lose, Yugi. I want to crush you on __**my**__ terms._

* * *

There are, occasionally, times when a small part of the universe does something so stupid people feel compelled to shout something.

In this case, Mokuba suspected the word of the day was "YOINK!"

Every functional Duel Disk had both a tracking device and a registered user. It had to—Duel Disks were only supposed to be given out to people who'd been _invited_ to the tournament. They weren't really even on the market yet, otherwise. They also recorded things like Life Points while in use and dueling records when not.

The devices in Yugi's Duel Disk had been working normally—they'd reported a 1-0 record, with a strange user recorded only as Ghoul. And the tracking function had been working just fine—right up until the starfish-headed teenager had walked into the park and disappeared from the grid.

Seto noticed first (and of course he would) and promptly blew a fuse in his own, private way by ordering everyone to track the wayward King of Games down.

They'd actually already been on patrol that day—or rather; Mokuba had been trying to manage to situation on the ground as the Battle City commissioner and failing because some of the nastier (and stupider) duelists refused to listen to a kid half their size. Well, until both Seto and Sonozaki had shown up like the wrath of the gods and Seto had showed the third-stringer what it was like to face down an Egyptian God Card with the safeties disengaged. Mokuba had followed his brother back to the administration office, and now _this_ had to happen.

So, now he was off again, followed by Sonozaki. The older Kaiba had decided to stay in the office, acting as a sort of commanding officer while his subordinates ran off to do all the work.

It really wasn't fair of Mokuba to think like that, but after the first two places turned out to be duds, he couldn't help it. Anyway, now they had the final location confirmed. Seto knew. And that meant that Yugi wouldn't stay missing for long.

And then they ran into Anzu, panting, and Yugi's grandfather sitting on a bench.

Sonozaki slowed behind him, changing her pace to a graceful walk marred by her heavy breathing—it hadn't been fair to let use her as a battering ram against the two innocent sites, but it had been necessary. Battle City didn't even take up a majority of Domino's total area, but they'd cleared the event with the city beforehand. If people were still pulling stuff like this when, for the day, KaibaCorp owned the damn town, maybe they had it coming. Still, seeing Sonozaki kick down a door had been pretty cool.

Finding the nerd-caves had not been.

"Anzu, Mutou-san." Mokuba said as he slowed down to greet them.

The oldest (known) Mutou got up, and Mokuba saw terrible concern flash across the old man's face. Strength borne of fear for…oh, crap. "Mokuba-kun, do you have any idea where Yugi could have possible gone? I just walked into a tent and disappeared!"

"We already know," Mokuba explained. "Oniisama knows where he is, and we're heading there now." He indicated Sonozaki, who stopped and bowed to the violet-eyed old man.

Anzu suddenly smiled, if rather frostily. So she didn't like Sonozaki much, either. Well, that was fine, as long as they could work together. "Then we'll go together. Can't pass up good luck like this."

Even as an old man and a retiree, Mutou Sugoroku was apparently still up for another challenge. "All right. Let's get going."

They did.

A cell phone rang. Sonozaki paused and pulled her blue flip-phone out of her pocket as they ran, shouting an answer that sounded like, "Right away, ma'am!"

And that was about when something green and squealing hit Sonozaki hard enough to launch her into the bushes and down an embankment. All Mokuba heard was a strangled, joyful cry of "_Akiko-oneesamaaaaaaaa~_!" and a very loud thump.

* * *

Elsewhere, Yami was staring at his hand. This would get a _lot_ worse before it got better…

"Make your move, Yugi," the man called Pandora taunted him.

Yami ignored him and drew.

And stared.

And smirked.

This show had just gotten its twist ending. _Black Magician Girl, you're up._

* * *

"Okay, back up. You're Houjou Setsuna." Mokuba said after a second or two of awkward silence after they'd managed to haul the two back up the hill. Still, they had places to be, so they started walking in the direction they'd been going for originally.

The green-haired, red-eyed girl nodded, not releasing her deathlike grip on Sonozaki's wrist. She really did look a lot like Sonozaki, but about ten years younger and with a serious attitude problem. The hairclip was kind of cool, though—sort of like those cheap little yin-yang paired necklaces Mokuba had seen when he'd traveled with his brother on business, but this one was a white wing with a black dot, and, well, a hairclip. He briefly wondered where the black one was. "And you're Kaiba Mokuba. And Mazaki Anzu, and Mutou Sugoroku."

Sonozaki said nothing. She seemed rather busy trying not to let herself turn bright red, actually. Maybe. With her it was hard to tell.

Mokuba nodded at her as they ran. "And she's Sonozaki Kotone. You're her younger sister?"

"Younger half-sister." Setsuna corrected him. "And her name's Akiko. Get it right."

"That's not what her employment records said." Mokuba argued. "And anyway, it doesn't matter. We have places to be. And since Oniisama hired her to be by bodyguard, she has to come with."

Setsuna scowled. Even with the way the Duel Disk was obviously too big for her and her huge floppy purple hat made her look even smaller, she was taller than him and tried to glare down at him. "I've been looking for Akiko-oneesama for a week. There's _no_ _way_ I'm letting you take her away like that. Right, Akiko-oneesama?"

Sonozaki looked down at the green-haired copy of herself with a blank look. "I don't even know you."

Setsuna stared back. "Well, duh. I didn't know you were my sister until I was ten, either."

There was something very wrong about that. But still, they didn't have _time_.

Anzu glared at both of the children. "We were going somewhere, _weren't we_?" There was enough of an edge in her voice that she got everyone's attention. Except for Yugi's grandfather, who was equally annoyed.

Sonozaki pried her apparent younger sister's fingers from her arm. "I am ready to go, Bocchan."

"Bocchan?" Setsuna repeated, stunned.

But they were already running.

* * *

"Sonozaki-san?" Mokuba said, indicating the door and its heavy locks. "Can you…?"

Despite the girl clinging to Sonozaki like she was some sort of life preserver, the blue-haired woman tugged herself free and stood beside Honda as they assessed the door.

Then Sonozaki nodded. "Give me a moment."

And then she took a stance Mokuba didn't recognize, but he did realize she was winding up for something. So did Honda. He backed up a bit, too.

A pair of synchronized kicks later, and the shattered remains of the glass doors didn't stand in their way anymore.

The next door, down three flights of stairs Sonozaki had skipped by jumping straight down the shaft, was solid steel and locked tight. Possibly dead bolted.

Sonozaki put a hand against the metal, listening to the strange, unearthly hum they all heard. Maybe it was distorted. Mokuba frowned. It was familiar…

"That's a circular saw." Setsuna murmured, being held back by Mutou from latching onto her sister like a limpet.

"If Yugi's behind that door, who knows what they could be doing to him!" Anzu said anxiously, but the particular way she said it made it seem like, once she knew who Yugi's kidnappers were, she would personally kick the living daylights out of them. Or do it with a baseball bat.

"Do any of you know how to get past this?" Yugi's grandpa asked, obviously worried sick.

Honda pounded on the unyielding steel. "Yugi! Can you hear us? Are you okay?"

Mokuba didn't know how to get past this. None of them did. Except…

The blue-haired woman was poking around on her customized Duel Disk. "Bocchan, this device…how is it activated?"

Why was she asking _that_? "It has to access a compatible computer dueling system. Otherwise none of the Duel Disks would work." Mokuba said in a rush, feeling panic rising.

"And this hidden base…it has one such computer system?" Sonozaki said haltingly. She really, really sucked at electronics. Mokuba almost pitied that.

"It has to." Mokuba answered. "But you can't use a terminal when a duel's in progress."

"Well, maybe you can." Setsuna said quietly, drawing all eyes to her. Her red eyes flashed in the dark, defiant. "You can't activate a Duel Disk without an opponent, right? There were lots of duels in the main square when I was there. You just can't use a Duel Disk without a partner. So I'll be yours." She held up her left arm, the Duel Disk attached to it like a deadly electronic bracer. She inserted her deck into the slot. "Ready, neesama?"

Sonozaki nodded and loaded her fake, weaponized deck. "Where would a deadbolt be located on this door?"

Anzu and Honda exchanged looks and Honda tapped that part of the door.

"Understood. Duel." And as soon as the device started to move, she spun away from her sister and slammed the card platforms of the Duel Disk into the door.

The two parts began to whine, sparks flying. They were designed to come together above the duelist's hand, almost like a katar, before sliding to the side in the "ready" position. Only these ones fought both the door's steel and Sonozaki's strength in their effort to come together.

It really was a sign of his brother's ludicrous preparation that the _door_ buckled and ripped under the strain, not the piece of KaibaCorp tech. The deadbolt itself was gone, too—twisted into being unrecognizable and clattering to the floor as Honda kicked the door open once Sonozaki had wrenched her arm free. Her Duel Disk clung stubbornly to the door and her arm was rubbed red and raw, but that was all.

Well, not all. Mokuba thought about using some of the words Seto had told him never to say, just to describe their situation.

Seriously, buzzsaws? What did these Ghouls think this _was_, a yakuza circus?

In one corner, a guy in a suit, a hat, and a stupid mask. In the other, Yugi. No…wait, that was the other Yugi. Oh, this had been a _bad_ duel. As if the threat of having your feet sawn off wasn't a big enough hint.

"Sonozaki-san, get the guy in the suit!" That was the only side the circular saw was still spinning. This, if Mokuba knew anything about Yugi and his inability to lose to anyone except Seto, meant that the funny guy was the bad guy. _Everyone_ lost to Yugi eventually.

"Mokuba?" Yugi turned—yep, definitely the scary Yugi—but he was surprised to see them there. Then, "Honda, Anzu? _Jiichan_?" That last one had been a bit of a yelp. Still, he was okay. That…that was good. More than anything else, that was what was important.

Still, Mokuba had a job to do.

"Later, Yugi!" Mokuba said sharply, sure that his friend was safe and moving down his list of priorities in a very Seto-like manner. He ignored the frantic reunion and focused on the guy in the suit, who had gotten out of his ankle cuffs and was currently being held in complicated-looking joint lock by Sonozaki. "Hey, you, freak in the ugly mask! What do you think you're doing messing with the Battle City Tournament? This isn't your show!"

"B-but…my Catherine…" He was struggling, and despite her skill Sonozaki was being dragged along while the man had his mental breakdown. "Malik…Malik _promised_!" The pain didn't seem to stop him, and one of his flailing limbs broke free. He ended up kicking Sonozaki in the stomach. The woman wheezed, but she wasn't going to let go.

Setsuna stepped up then, snapping and snarling, "Hey, what do you think you're doing to my neesama, you empty, pathetic _failure_ of a magician?" She…did _something_. Mokuba didn't look. Still, the man was cringing when Sonozaki let him go.

Sonozaki moved away and back toward the group even though Mokuba hadn't said anything, followed closely by her mini-me, but two pairs of identical red eyes were trained on the man in the suit.

No, three pairs of red eyes were staring now—the other Yugi was staring, too, possibly at something Mokuba didn't see while the man got up, laughing with two different voices. Mokuba felt a chill run down his spine and both of the red-eyed sisters were by his side in an instant.

"Why is there a funny eye on his forehead?" Setsuna muttered, sticking close to her sister. Sonozaki shook her head wordlessly.

"Pandora?" the other Yugi asked, but his voice was different—oh, normal Yugi was back. Mokuba wondered why, but didn't question it. There was a cautious, concerned edge that the other Yugi never used.

"Yugi, don't get too close," his grandfather warned him, pulling him back. "People like this can do horrible things…" Mokuba could imagine. Yugi was really small for his age—he and Mokuba were about the same size. Pandora, even in the middle of a mental breakdown, could really, _really_ hurt someone like Yugi, who wasn't big enough to fight back and probably _wouldn't_, unless the other Yugi took over. He was too nice.

There was that laugh again—Mokuba saw Sonozaki's mouth tighten into something like a frown, if the stoic woman ever made one, and she pushed both him and Setsuna behind her. There was something really, really _wrong_ with the man called Pandora. Sonozaki's aura of creepiness didn't compare. It was…Mokuba didn't know what was going on, but he knew it was going to be big trouble.

"Yugi, Yugi…" The voice wasn't the worst part, despite the blending of two entirely different voices. Pandora moved like a puppet. Every movement was a spasm, or a jerk. He didn't move right. He was…Mokuba shuddered. What would do _this_ to a _person_? "Pandora isn't here anymore. Didn't you know?"

All of them jerked back, except Sonozaki and Yugi. Both of them faced the budding horror without fear, but in Yugi's case it was hard to know if it was courage or concern that made the biggest difference. He was too kind for his own good sometimes.

"So we meet again, Yugi-kun." There was an edge there, of instability and hate and wrath and a dozen different things Mokuba had long since conditioned himself to face. Seto had been like that, once. If he could face down his niisama, he could face down a monster like this. "I assume you already know who I am…why don't you introduce me to all your little _friends_?"

He said it in a way that was both a threat and a curse, and Mokuba narrowed his blue eyes. If he'd been Seto, he would have sneered at the man. But he wasn't, so he settled for glaring. It helped that Setsuna was glaring, too, grinding her teeth like she'd like to bite the puppeteer to Pandora's strings.

"Malik." When even the nice Yugi was _this close_ to snapping at you, you were a monster. Not like the cards, but a person who by all rights should have been locked away in prison forever to _rot_. "Why don't you show your face? You're a coward."

"I'll appear before you in time." Pandora/Malik said mockingly. "But until then, you'll just have to wait for my cue. You already know what I want. Want to be a good boy and hand it over before people get _hurt_?

"So, are you going to? Are you going to give me the Puzzle, or do I have to _take_ it? Because you won't like it if I have to _take_ it. I'll take what's rightfully mine my going straight through the hearts of everyone you care about." Pandora/Malik hissed. "So make your choice, Yugi-kun."

Yugi gave him a look that would have seemed downright wrathful on anyone else, but really, those big purple eyes weren't designed to look scary. His glower wasn't a tenth as strong as the other Yugi's, who had a horrible scarlet glare and, sometimes, all the mercy of the worst AI. "No way, Malik. You couldn't get it from me in the warehouse, and you definitely aren't going to get the Puzzle here."

"You would have lost and have your legs sawn off as you begged for someone to save you, if not for that scheming Pharaoh lodged in your head." Pandora/Malik hissed.

"Drop dead and die _screaming for mercy_, Malik." Setsuna snapped. Pandora/Malik looked at her like she was a mouse who'd just drawn the attention of the big, battle-scarred barn cat. "I don't know who you are, or what you look like, but you should just crawl back under whatever rock you came from. Unless you want the kiddy gloves to come off."

"Really? You think I'm not taking this seriously? That you can stop me, if only you stop _letting_ me get away with things?" Pandora/Malik grinned a horrible grin, the kind you never saw on a sane man. "Well little girl, why don't I start with you?"

"Setsuna-kun, don't—!" Anzu started, but the green-haired girl was too furious to listen. Something Malik had said had struck a chord, and now they were watching the ripples in the person.

"Try me," she snarled, trying to push her way past her sister. "You think you can push anyone around, don't you? Make them dance to your tune? Well, I can tell you _right now_—!"

Pandora/Malik lashed out, and Mokuba didn't see it. Not really. It was really more of a feeling, with the air splitting apart under some unseen strain, but both of the red-eyed sisters moved. Kotone? Forward. Setsuna? Back, not entirely under her own power.

_WHOOMPH_.

When Mokuba looked up again, Pandora was lying uselessly on the ground, mouth wide open and his eyes vacant and staring. Little puffs of black and white dust were in the air, choking them, and Setsuna was rubbing her eyes and coughing. Yugi was okay, rushing over to Pandora to see if anything could be done before most of them could move. His grandpa was okay, too, and quickly joined Yugi. Anzu and Honda—yeah, they were fine, but a little shaken up. Mokuba checked himself over, noticing that he'd probably have a bruise on his rear end in a day or two, but nothing serious.

Sonozaki…Kotone was lying half-in the lowered ring, on her side and trying to curl in on herself. She twitched—she was hurt, but she wouldn't let it show more than she had to—and then she got up, slowly.

Showing no sign of pain, she walked over to Pandora and pulled a pair of fuzzy pink handcuffs (?) from nowhere and proceeded to hog-tie the senseless magician with the handcuffs and his huge, ugly bowtie.

"Akiko-oneesama!" Well, that was one sister recovered. Mokuba mentally sighed as the green-haired girl ran over, trying to help her sister but ultimately being pretty useless. "Aki…" When Setsuna trailed off, Mokuba stopped and stared.

Sonozaki was breathing heavily, sitting on the ground and leaning on the low wall for support. Mokuba got close, tried to figure out what was going on. Maybe he could help. He waited.

After a while, Sonozaki gasped, "…Bocchan?"

"I'm here and I'm okay." Mokuba assured her, trying to understand what in the world was happening. Yugi was there, suddenly, but it was the other Yugi and it was all going _wrong_…

Pandora/Malik laughed, making everyone jump. He was still bound, though, so that meant no one ran away. "You think _this_ is the last you'll see of me, Yugi-kun? I won't rest until I have the power of the Pharaoh and you know it, don't you?" Another laugh. "I'm going to win, Yugi-kun. Even you can't win against your next opponent, who holds an Egyptian God Card." The manic grin was back, too. Mokuba thought about kicking the freak, hard, but held back because otherwise Seto would probably find a way to give him an earful. "Try and see if you can survive _that_, Yugi-kun…" And his voice trailed off into insane laughter.

Sonozaki almost glared—Mokuba figured it was as close as she could get—and then slumped with a sigh. She was out cold.

* * *

Yami watched with concern as Honda hauled the unconscious pair out of the basement, trying not to get in the way. It was Yugi's body, after all, and some details didn't change between them. If Yugi couldn't pick up the blue-haired woman, Yami doubted he could. He hung back, trying to figure out exactly what he was seeing.

Pandora was easy. Yami didn't know about anything that could do what Malik had done to the mentally-broken magician, but it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on him. He'd suggested to Mokuba that he get his brother to put Pandora up in a hospital under psychiatric watch (at Yugi's insistence), because he didn't doubt that Malik had instructed Pandora to…remove himself in the event he became a liability. Even if Yugi refused to see it, Yami couldn't. He knew how people like Malik worked on an instinctual level, and all of it was monstrous.

So, that was Pandora sorted. Malik would probably become a recurring threat, like a weed in a garden, and Yami had already decided he'd be ready to meet that threat and defeat it again and again if necessary.

Still, Yami knew how to beat something like Malik. Once the schemer revealed himself, Yami had promised himself that he would personally blast the man from existence. He hadn't told Yugi that part, but sometimes the spirit favored a direct approach.

"What's wrong with her?" the girl with green hair—Setsuna—demanded of Mokuba.

"How should I know?" Mokuba snapped back.

Anzu sighed. "Look, this isn't getting you two anywhere. Does anyone have any actual _ideas_, not just insults?"

Yami glanced at the unconscious woman, thinking. Before, he'd known that something was supremely _off_ about her. He didn't have a word for it, but her presence had been unsettling and he had wanted to get away, quickly. The urge wasn't as strong now.

_Something wrong, other me?_

Yami thought about it. Yes, there was something wrong about the blue-haired woman Kaiba had hired. But now it was…_less_ wrong, somehow. Like the problem was correcting itself. He was no expert, but he'd hazard a guess that whatever had happened wasn't entirely a bad thing.

_No, partner, I think she's going to be fine eventually. For now, we just need to get back in the game. Stopping Malik should be the first thing on our list._ Yami told him.

_But where do we start?_ Yugi asked.

_Well…_ Yami glanced at Mokuba. _Why not with KaibaCorp?_

**

* * *

**

**A/N:** Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, faved, or added alerts for this fic.

Also, this is where the actual plot kicks in. This should (briefly) follow all of the arcs in the anime and borrow a few from the manga, mixing and matching as needed to tell a good story.

Also, to anyone who wonders how Mokuba can tell the difference between Yugi and Yami (and everyone else can, too), it's a manga feature. In that, Yugi and Yami don't look that different, but all of the characters can tell them apart by their attitudes. Mokuba actually was told about Yami (as "the other Yugi") by Seto before the Death-T arc.


	5. Sibling Rivalry Inverse

**Chapter Five: Sibling Rivalry Inverse**

**A/N:** In case you're wondering, they handled the Esper Roba thing last chapter, off-screen. And Mokuba didn't get kidnapped, obviously.

This chapter is Setsuna-heavy, but the plot is still plodding along happily.

* * *

While his brother and the other Yugi got into a shouting match (sort of…) with Sonozaki hovering nearby to discourage an actual fight, Mokuba sat down with a load of paperwork and tried to get to the bottom of the mystery of Sonozaki and the cabbage-headed brat. Granted, he wasn't supposed to be going through employee contracts when his brother wasn't paying attention, but since he was Vice President no one but Seto would tell him not to, not if they valued their jobs.

Sonozaki had woken up after about a minute, being looked over by a paramedic. She was told not to engage in any strenuous activity (_not_ gonna happen), or sleep for twelve hours in case she had a concussion (yeah, right). Sonozaki hadn't hit her head. Something else was going on that no one had told them about. So she was already up, and Mokuba had been forced to drag the green-haired hellion over so he could talk to her without everyone getting caught up in the brewing fight.

Either way, Mokuba focused on sitting down at a nearby desk and looking over the information Setsuna had given him. A lot of it seemed kind of pointless; except for the birth certificates and death certificates, and family trees that were all organized by rice-paper scrolls…how big _was_ this family? And why was a middle-schooler carrying all this stuff around?

The actual interview gave him something to think about for days.

"Sonozaki-san isn't mentioned in any of these." Mokuba remarked, going over all of the formal kanji and neatly inked lines.

"That's because you're not looking under the right name, dummy." Setsuna muttered, rooting through her backpack and pulling out a crinkled spiral notebook. She flipped to the front of it, and there was a birth certificate taped to the first page (which struck Mokuba as a very, very stupid thing to do with something so important). According to the tiny kanji on it, it belonged to someone named Sonozaki Akiko, not Kotone. "Even if she calls herself something different now, she's still Akiko-neesama."

Mokuba didn't change his determined expression and kept looking over the records. Houjou Setsuna was on the family records, too, but Houjou appeared to be her mother's family name. Her father was a Sonozaki. That could explain how the scarlet-eyed pair were related, but there wasn't anything indicating how old her father had been, or if he'd ever had a child before… "How are you and Sonozaki-san related, exactly? She's not even on the family tree."

Setsuna scowled. "Akiko-neesama and I are half-sisters. What, the hair didn't give it away?"

Mokuba decided not to point out to her that, like with the Kaiba brothers, the only thing that really made Setsuna and Sonozaki stand out as siblings was their identical eye color. Mostly because it was incredibly eerie. Other than that, they had similar bone structure and faces, but that didn't mean much unless you stood the two next to each other for comparison.

He settled for saying, "Nope." Then he shuffled through the papers again. "So, you're related on your dad's side…"

"Again, that's obvious." Setsuna muttered.

"…and according to this," Mokuba continued as though he hadn't heard her, "Sonozaki-san is going to end up having to take care of you."

"Um…" Setsuna flushed. "Yeah, about that…"

Mokuba decided to concentrate on the background sounds of the other Yugi and Seto arguing furiously, because he wasn't sure he wanted to think about what Setsuna's response implied. Idly, he wondered who would throw the first punch.

"...See, my uncle's been taking care of me for a while." Setsuna began, staring at her lap. "Mom died when I was little, so it's not like I remember that, but…" She sighed. Apparently the pain wasn't exactly new. She spoke quickly, getting angrier as she did, "Well, stuff happened, and I found out I had an older sister. Can you believe it? No one ever told me!"

Mokuba didn't say anything. He was busy trying to imagine what it would be like to grow up without Seto and failing.

"So, I went to find out, and…and my family's _really_ big, so we've actually got clan elders and stuff. I asked around." She looked a little uncomfortable, biting her lip. "I wasn't supposed to find out about her, but I did, so I went looking for clan records. And I found them."

Mokuba looked down at the paper again. He couldn't read Setsuna's father's name—it looked like someone had taken a cigarette butt to the page. "He's disgraced?" he asked, indicating that part of the chart.

"Yeah." Setsuna shrugged as though it didn't matter, but Mokuba wasn't fooled. So that was why she was so snappish? Her part of the family was dishonored? "I don't know what he did, exactly, but I think it has something to do with why Akiko-neesama isn't on there. And then they told me that I had to leave. They wrote up the papers and everything."

Mokuba looked back at the papers. A lot of them were financial records, which could give someone like him or Seto a clue, but were useless to Setsuna. Maybe he'd be able to get Seto to do some digging once Battle City was over. "Let's say I believe you. If you're telling the truth about you and Sonozaki being sisters, then this court order is valid. And Sonozaki has to take care of you."

Setsuna nodded.

"But she doesn't have an apartment." Mokuba pointed out. "She lives with us. Me and oniisama."

Setsuna looked over Mokuba's shoulder, to where Seto and the other Yugi were pointedly not looking at each other as Sonozaki stood by, apparently confused. Setsuna frowned. "Okay. So…that means I'll be living with you?"

"Well, she might get fired, or maybe Seto might get her an apartment. Or something. I'm not really sure." Mokuba tried to explain, except that he wasn't sure what Seto would do. The only person he liked was Mokuba, the only person he respected was Yugi, and the only person he relied on, even a little, was Sonozaki. Mokuba wasn't sure how Setsuna would fit into that dynamic.

"I'm going to keep my name, I think." Setsuna mumbled, glaring at the papers. "I'm not really close to Akiko-neesama, not yet, but if she can stand being disgraced in the eyes of the clan, so can I."

After a moment, Mokuba realized that he recognized that look. He'd seen it on Seto before, back when they'd still been at the orphanage, and again during their time with Gozaburo.

_I can take whatever they throw at me. I won't lose._

Well, even if Setsuna annoyed him and would probably drive Seto up the wall, Mokuba supposed he had to respect that, at least.

* * *

The next day...

In the middle of the city park, there was a bit of a crowd around what they could only call a living statue performance. Pigeons were landing on the bald, wiry, piercing-laden man, and so far he hadn't moved.

After a while, one of the gawkers said, "Dude (That guy's a freak)."

"Dude (I know! How long's he gonna stand there?)!" added another.

"Dude (Think we should pay him?)?" the third one asked.

Then he got up and started to run away, only it was the kind of run you only ever saw in crappy video games and doodles. It made him look like an idiot.

"Dude (What. The. Crap.)."

* * *

They were on patrol, per usual. After a bit of dawdling around the administration center, Mokuba had sighed and taken both of the sisters with him. After all, Mokuba _was_ the commissioner and Setsuna _was_ technically a competitor in the tournament (Seto had even looked up her records to make sure), so it wasn't like they could wait forever. Sonozaki just walked behind them, not really caring where they went.

That was pretty much how they ended up watching the duel between Jounouchi Katsuya and Insector Haga.

For whatever reason, Setsuna automatically took a dislike to her fellow green-haired teenager. It was probably the laugh. The constant "Nyeh-heh-heh-heh!" could get on anyone's nerves.

Maybe that was why the little spitfire had taken one look at the Insect monsters the boy was using, blinked, and started laughing.

"_That's_ his strategy?" Setsuna snorted, not even bothering to cover her giggles as both Duelists stared at her. "I could beat you in my sleep!" she declared, pointing at Insector.

"What are you talking about?" Insector demanded, automatically enraged. "My plan is flawless!" Sometimes he wondered if the entire world hated him (except maybe Dinosaur Ryuuzaki).

Jou, meanwhile, was rearranging the cards in his hand while pretending to listen. He seemed to have found his stride. Mokuba was the only one who noticed the change in demeanor.

"Your bugs sure didn't do so hot against that metal knight before!" Setsuna shouted back. "If a Warrior with metal armor's all it takes to shut your bug virus down, how are you gonna deal with my Machine army?"

Mokuba sighed mentally and told her, "Setsuna-san, that's not how it works. Wait until the duel's over before you start issuing challenges."

Setsuna huffed. "Fine."

About two minutes later, when Jou slaughtered Insector's Insect Queen with what amounted to magical bug spray, everyone was in a slightly better mood. Truly, the world hated Insector Haga.

* * *

Well, not as much as it hated Hale.

A brick had smashed through her window around lunchtime. There was a note tied to the brick. She'd had to get her minion to translate for her, but the message was clear enough.

_I know where you live. Never call me again. – S.K._

* * *

An hour and several commercial breaks later…

"I can't believe I lost!" Setsuna grumbled as they all headed off in search of another duel. Granted, she'd lost one of her best cards—Megamorph—but it wasn't like she couldn't find other good cards if she wanted to. But she'd lost her locator card, which meant that she was out of the tournament.

_It's not like it matters._ Setsuna thought, gritting her teeth. _I found Akiko, I have a place to stay, and losing once __**doesn't matter**__._

"You did pretty well, Setsuna-chan." Anzu pointed out. "Jou made runner-up at Duelist Kingdom, so it's not like you've got anything to be embarrassed about. It's not like you lost to _Insector Haga_."

Somewhere, out in the cosmos, Dinosaur Ryuuzaki sneezed. He was, after all, the only one with a name who'd ever lost to Insector Haga.

That was when Mokuba's radio crackled to life with a sound like a wailing police siren. "Someone just played one of the Egyptian God Cards! Osiris has been located!"

* * *

Somehow, Setsuna managed to convince Mokuba and Akiko to stay with the still-qualified duelist and his entourage, saying that _obviously_ Seto was going to be there and didn't Mokuba have the duty to regulate matches. He couldn't do that if he was hanging around Seto and watching a big red worm make mincemeat out of the King of Games, so if he decided to be a fanboy he'd be neglecting his duties. Or something. Mokuba didn't remember exactly what had been said; only that it was convincing. Of course, her promise to record the entire duel with her video camera had sweetened the deal somewhat.

That was how Setsuna found herself dashing across the city to the river, cutesy cell phone in hand. Really, she thought that the entire concept of the two brothers running a company between themselves was a bit impractical (and not to mention dangerous), so she had volunteered to be a go-between if they needed to be in more than two places at once. If they were going to take her in, she supposed it was the least she could do. Even if they weren't, Mokuba had showed her Sonozaki's contract, and Setsuna figured they paid her sister well enough to deserve a bit of loyalty from her.

She arrived at the riverbank and scanned the slope until she found the duel-in-progress. The older Kaiba was already there, watching the big red serpent blast away at Mutou's defenses again and again. She didn't quite know what was going on, only that there was a lot of excitement about the funny card and that the weird bald guy was creeping her out. Especially with the glowing eyeball on his forehead.

Whatever. She dug in her backpack and pulled out a video camera the size of a small cat. "Oi, Kaiba. Mokuba-kun told me to record the entire battle."

As some people had been tempted to point out over the years, Setsuna wouldn't know politeness if it hit her with a brick.

Kaiba gave her a sidelong glance, apparently trying to glare her into submission, but Setsuna wasn't about to let a boy only four years older than her make all the rules, even if he was nearly a foot and a half taller than she was and owned half of the city. Besides, her clan all had red eyes. No matter how cold, blue eyes would never unnerve her as badly.

"Do what you want." Kaiba growled.

Setsuna cheerfully ignored him and set her camera to REC. "Hey, you think something's off about that guy down there? The bald one?"

Kaiba ignored her.

"Actually," Setsuna muttered, "something's off about both of them. Mutou…there's like a weird blanket effect…ugh. I wish I knew what I was looking at." She shook her head. "And can you see the funny eyeball mark on the other guy?"

"Do you know how to shut up?" Kaiba demanded.

"No." Setsuna said blithely. "And if I had an electromagnetic force detector I'd be able to tell you if it was magic or a glow-in-the-dark tattoo."

"What are you talking about?" Kaiba finally snapped, after trying to ignore her rambling. "There _is_ no eye on his forehead."

"Yes, there is." Setsuna insisted. "Just because _you_ can't see it doesn't mean it's not there."

"No, there isn't—" Kaiba stopped himself. _I am __**not**__ going to get into an argument with a middle school-aged brat._ "Is this going to be one of those stupid debates about friendship and fluffy things?"

Setsuna huffed. "Magic isn't all mystical stuff. Mostly it's just a little luck where you need it. Whether you believe in it or not." She shrugged. "Here, hold this." Shoving the video camera into Kaiba's hands, she pulled a collapsible tripod from her backpack and started to set it up. Apparently, she was getting tired of arguing and holding the camera steady at the same time. "If you're good at finding loopholes, like a lawyer, you can be a pretty good magician. So, what's so important about a red dragon?"

"It's an _Egyptian God Card_." Kaiba said in a tone that made it plain he was speaking the obvious. And that he didn't want to talk about mystical crap.

"Mind elaborating for the stupid people watching at home?" Setsuna retorted, unscrewing and pulling on the legs of the tripod so it could be adjusted to a more reasonable degree. No one wanted to manage a camera at knee height. "Aside from the fact that it instantly vaporizes all of Mutou's monsters, what's so special about it?"

As if this was a cue, Black Luster Soldier promptly exploded under Osiris's secondary mouth cannon. Or at least, Setsuna thought of it like that.

Kaiba put the camera on the groove on the tripod and allowed her to adjust it so it focused on the duel down below. "It's immune to all magic, trap, and monster effects designed to destroy it." Kaiba responded, annoyance clear. "And it doesn't just kill anything that looks at it—it blasts 2,000 Attack Points off a summoned monster—if it doesn't have that many, it's destroyed."

"Sounds like the cheapest card I've ever heard of." Setsuna remarked once the camera was in place. "How many tributes does it need?"

"Three." Kaiba responded, though it was obvious she didn't have his full attention anymore. Yugi was doing something strategic.

Setsuna grumbled, watching as the little jelly creature called Revival Jam was brainwashed into joining Yugi's team. "On the upside, at least the little slime ghoul gets a starfish-headed friend."

After a moment, in which the Revival Jam was automatically killed by Osiris, regenerated, was killed again, and regenerated again about twelve times, Setsuna noticed that the bald man's deck was getting smaller and smaller. Since tournament-eligible decks only contained forty cards, Setsuna realized that as soon as the bald guy couldn't draw a card he'd automatically lose, and that it would take about a minute. "Mutou's forcing that guy to mill his own deck."

"Essentially." Kaiba said absently, still staring down at the match as they heard the dual-voiced creep start to panic. "Well, this was more boring that I'd thought it would be."

Setsuna was inclined to agree. Infinity-looping _was_ brilliant, but she'd expected that the dragon would be destroyed, not outwitted. She didn't doubt that such a huge monster would explode into a lot of pretty holographic shards. "I guess. If Mutou hadn't freaked out in the middle it would've been shorter, at least."

Kaiba nodded without apparently realizing he'd done so. "If it had been me…"

Setsuna missed whatever Kaiba was about to say because, at that moment, the song "Ready Steady Go" by L'Arc-en-Ciel started blaring from her backpack. She pulled her Hello Kitty cell phone out as she skidded her way down the slope toward Yugi and the bald man who was slumped in defeat.

Oddly enough, it was a call from her sister. She answered it.

"Kaiba, Akiko-neesama wants to know if she can get rid of the escalation-of-force protocol!" Setsuna yelled up at him, completely drowning out whatever Yugi and the weird bald guy were saying.

"Why?" Kaiba asked. The protocols were mostly in place to prevent people from suing KaibaCorp, and he was pretty sure she knew that. It had to be serious.

Another pause. "Akiko-neesama says that she doesn't feel like being charitable to kidnappers!"

Setsuna could see Kaiba's eyes widen even from fifty feet away. "Tell her to do whatever it takes to get them away from Mokuba!"

"Akiko-oneesama, he says to let them have it!" With that, Setsuna snapped her phone shut and turned her attention back to the bald man Yugi was berating. Now that she wasn't using the zoom feature on her camera, she could make out the details on the eye. She recognized it.

She knew magic. It was one of those forbidden arts that most people couldn't or wouldn't acknowledge. It wasn't pulling rabbits out of hats or escaping stupid deathtraps (usually), but it _was_ invisible to people who didn't have the Eye. Setsuna had been lucky enough to be born into an entire clan where everyone could see magic as it was, but she was no prodigy. She couldn't craft spells or summon demons, or even really do all that much without certain rituals that the elders had banned, but she knew what magic was good for and what it wasn't. You weren't supposed to use it for anything achievable without it. That included conquering the world or seeking revenge.

That was why she walked right up to the bald man and kicked him in the forehead, directly in the eye-mark.

* * *

Elsewhere…

Jounouchi found himself recoiling in shock as, after her phone was grabbed away and smashed, Sonozaki went utterly _ballistic_.

He could fight. Honda could fight—he wasn't there, but he would have had Jou's back if he was—and so could Yugi in a certain roundabout way (usually through Shadow Games), but seeing the red-eyed woman start breaking limbs was downright disturbing. She fought less like a brawler or thug and more like a karate master, only she tended not to throw them and didn't really react to pain. She'd even smashed the back of her head into her captor's nose to get him to let go, and from there it was like she was more monster than human.

Still, he wasn't about to let her have all the fun. Even with only him and Anzu and Mokuba, surrounded by seven of the purple-robed thugs as Sonozaki thrashed four others, he was back in his element. He could duel, and he did that on luck, but one of the things he'd been best at prior to befriending Yugi was fighting. The Duel Disk on his left arm might end up broken at the end of it, but he decided that he preferred freedom to the tournament.

_Crack_. And as a dancer, Anzu had a fearsome kick. That sounded like someone's knee.

Mokuba might not have been useful, exactly, since he was only eleven, but anyone who'd ever played soccer could hit the nerve that ran up the middle of someone's leg. And even if he hadn't, Sonozaki pounced on the man who held Mokuba as soon as she could, smashing him over the head with her Duel Disk.

Jou slammed his elbow into a thug's gut and stepped into the move, following up with a vicious kick that sent the man to the ground, wheezing. Someone grabbed Anzu's arm, but then Mokuba employed the tried-and-true little kid standby—hand-biting. Then Sonozaki snap-kicked the offender in the ribs.

Everything blurred. The four of them moved in a not-particularly-well-controlled team, but it wasn't something they consciously decided on. Everything went by so fast that they just targeted anything wearing purple or dark colors in general, until everyone lay either unconscious or unable to move at their feet.

Sonozaki led them back toward the center of town and borrowed Mokuba's cell phone. "Kaiba-sama?"

"_Is Mokuba safe?_" the elder Kaiba demanded from the other end of the line.

Sonozaki glanced back to where Mokuba, Jounouchi, and Anzu were sitting near the fountain and debating what to do next. "Yes." She paused. "Are you safe as well?"

"Of course we are." Kaiba said brusquely. "But your sister kicked someone in the head, and he has to go to the hospital since she split his forehead and there was blood everywhere. If he sues, it's coming out of your paycheck."

"I understand, Kaiba-sama." Sonozaki replied.

"Then this conversation is over." _Click_.

Sonozaki nodded to herself as Jounouchi started to dial on his own monster of a cell phone for Honda. This sort of thing needed to be reported to people who'd have his back. To his surprise, Sonozaki said something to Mokuba and then just up and _left_. _What the hell?_

Five minutes later, there was a pink flash from the direction they'd come from, and a cry of "_Starlight Breaker!_" before the explosions started.

* * *

The official explanation was that there had been a gas leak downtown.

Seto, of course, didn't trust that one bit, but since the other explanations for the tragic hospitalization of twenty-eight gangsters were either that Sonozaki had blown them up with a handheld explosive (somehow without harming herself) or she'd used some sort of magic (like the Mutt had suggested), he figured he'd have to settle for the mundane one.

Well, whatever the case, the finals were on.

Seto was still a little surprised that the entire tournament had gone so smoothly. Only one kidnapping attempt for Mokuba (and Yugi's gaggle of idiots), one revealed God Card (which unfortunately had been picked up by Yugi despite Seto's best efforts to the contrary), and maybe one maniac bent on pointless destruction/something Seto couldn't make himself care about. Okay, so it wasn't exactly a normal tournament, but they'd tried.

Both of the Sonozaki sisters sat nearby as night fell, watching the cameras just as he and Mokuba did.

Eventually, the finalists started to show up. Of course, the usual suspects made their appearance; Yugi, Jounouchi, Kujaku Mai, the entire cheer squad…oddly enough, one more idiot in a purple robe, some other blonde idiot in a lavender belly shirt, that white-haired girly-looking boy who sometimes appeared in Yugi's group and sometimes didn't, and a woman in a cream-colored robe.

"This is going to be ugly." Setsuna muttered, going over to the window and glancing between Yugi, Bakura, and the guy who'd introduced himself as Namu. "Something's wrong with all three of them…"

Seto glanced at her. "You mean aside from the fact that their hair is by all rights _impossible_?"

Setsuna rolled her eyes. "No, I mean that there's something _spiritually_ off about them. Most people don't have auras that scream "I'm totally hiding an evil alter ego behind my cute face"!"

"MPD?" Mokuba suggested. It certainly fit with what he knew about the other Yugi.

"No, that'd be too mundane." Setsuna muttered. "Oneesama?"

The older Sonozaki—no, Akiko or Kotone or whatever her name really was—said nothing for a moment. In fact, before the tournament started, she hadn't really had opinions on anything. "Each one is a potential threat, regardless of suspected magical affinity. There have been several suspicious incidents over the years regarding Mutou-san and Bakura-san, but this man named Namu is neither registered as a competitor in the tournament nor even in Japan legally, according to the Tokyo Egyptian embassy."

Seto paused. "…I see."

"So, if he does anything stupid or evil we get to throw him out of the country?" Mokuba asked, and that smile was rather malicious.

"Well, we're going to be about five thousand feet in the air…" Setsuna suggested.

Seto wondered where he'd gone wrong in raising Mokuba. Except for the Death-T Incident…_er_…

He decided to concentrate on Setsuna's rather more sociopathic comment instead.

* * *

Mutou Yugi versus Bakura Ryou.

Jounouchi Katsuya versus "Malik Ishtar."

"Namu" versus Kujaku Mai.

Kaiba Seto versus Isis Ishtar.

Malik smirked. This would be easy.

* * *

Despite the fact that the paperwork on her change of guardianship hadn't come through yet, somehow, Setsuna was an unofficial part of the staff now that she wasn't a competitor. It seemed like every time something tiny went out of line, such as the lights flickering or the freezers momentarily turning off, she was there before Seto was actually told about it. In a way, it was like having an extra technician, though he was suspicious of the sudden surge of competence.

He asked about it once they were in the air, in his usual manner. "Where does a _thirteen-year-old_ girl learn to repair systems this advanced when they haven't even been on the market yet?"

Setsuna looked up, rubbing her red eyes. "It's fine when you already have a background in this kind of thing. I used to take apart the family PCs when I was little. I took the first classes in computer mechanics I could…" She paused. "And anyway, I like machines."

"You're up to your elbows in the guts of a wall-mounted air conditioner." Seto pointed out coolly. "_I can tell_."

"Then why'd you ask?" Setsuna muttered, "Anyway, this is going to be where Malik-_tan_ is sleeping," she put heavy sarcastic emphasis on the childish honorific, "so even if I can't put this back right it's not like anyone actually cares."

She had a point. Seto wasn't sure he was physically capable of caring any less about what the apparently-malicious Egyptian thought about the accommodations, anyway. He doubted he'd ever get used to how Setsuna didn't use honorifics for anyone unless she was insulting them or worshipping the ground they walked on, though.

"I'm not so sure about letting Malik in this tournament." Setsuna remarked as Seto leaned against the wall.

"Really."

"Malik doesn't look as bad as Namu-_tan_." Setsuna muttered. "Even with the facial carvings, there's something more wrong with his annoyingly cheerful façade than Akiko-neesama and her never-change-her-expression-ness."

"How so?" Seto asked, wondering why he was even talking to the weird red-eyed girl. He had other places to be.

"Akiko-neesama is pretty weird, I'll give you that." Setsuna explained. Something in the air conditioner went _pop_. "Oops." She couldn't have sounded less sincere if she tried. "But I think she's like that because of whatever our father did to get himself thrown out of the clan. Namu…it's faked. Whenever he thinks you're not looking, he gets this _smirk_, like he thinks he can actually plot his way out of a wet paper bag. And don't even get me started on Malik…"

Seto didn't even really have to guess. It wasn't much of a logical leap. "You think Malik's a fake." Which made a twisted sort of sense—why would the leader of an international crime syndicate compete openly, when it made a lot more sense not to get arrested or clubbed on sight by using a decoy? It was simple—Seto had made use of body doubles in the past, once or twice, and had never been disappointed. But of the ranks of naïve idiots on the airship, only Seto, Malik, possibly Isis, and now Setsuna had any idea that lying was even _possible_. They were a bunch of idiots, but at least they weren't scheming to make his life more difficult. No, they did that by "accident."

"Exactly." Setsuna said, pulling out something that looked important. Well, if she wanted to sabotage the room of someone he didn't like anyway, and who couldn't legally sue him because of the waivers, Seto didn't care. "Namu's overconfident. Malik doesn't even talk. I yelled at Malik a lot when the whole Pandora thing was happening. He's a malicious, manipulative brat, and if Tattoo-face is the real Malik…I'll eat my hat. Their voices don't even sound anything alike—Pandora had a falsetto voice, but there's no way a baritone like that fake Malik can talk like the teenager _I_ heard."

"Sounds like a promise." Seto remarked—Setsuna's hat was huge, purple, and covered in buttons and pins. That would _hurt_. "Want to make it a wager?"

Setsuna hefted the tubing over her shoulder, poking at a rip in the plastic. It looked like she'd inflicted it with her screwdriver. "Hm…I can't bet more than a few hundred yen, Kaiba. Not all of us can buy a yacht on our pocket change. What are you suggesting?"

Seto smirked. It was kind of nice, meeting someone who both wasn't intimidated by him and wasn't interested in launching into a _friendship speech_. Even if she didn't have the skills in Duel Monsters to back up her mouth, and she was barely any older than Mokuba, she was proving her worth in more practical ways. "Start by building a simple computer. If you can do that, we'll see."

Setsuna grinned wickedly. "What do you have in mind? I can do some crazy stuff with a decent toolset." She patted the tubing. "I have to fix this first, but I'm sure I can meet your standards."

They were both egotistical brats, each in their own way, but the difference was that they could back up what they said. They had abrasive personalities. They each had only one person who mattered to them in the entire world. They were schemers, suspicious of everything, and had different skills entirely, but maybe that could work.

Let it never be said that a Kaiba ever wasted talent.

"Yugi and Bakura are about to start." Seto remarked. "I should probably make sure the entire tournament doesn't devolve into a farce at this point."

"Akiko-neesama should be able to discipline them." Setsuna responded instantly. "But if she can't, you'll be needed. Just tell me before you start throwing idiots off the airship."

* * *

**A/N: **And so more of the mysteries are revealed.

And yes, Setsuna is predisposed toward black humor. Teenagers can be cynical like that.

And if you have to ask why Seto dislikes most (read: all) of Yugi's friends, you probably need to actually watch the show.

Malik, Isis, and Rishid have their names rendered in the Western order since they're foreigners. And technically, Malik and Rishid entered Japan illegally, so they _could_ get thrown out of the country through entirely legal methods. Isis is the only one who did things legitimately (except for the whole "use Sennen Tauk to see the future" thing).

Also, yes, that's the actual explanation for why Setsuna and Akiko have red eyes.


	6. To Know the Unknown

**Chapter Six: To Know the Unknown**

**A/N: **There's not much to say here.

* * *

The night was full of anticipation, hope, dread, and triumph.

"We're five thousand flipping feet in the air and you didn't have the sense to install a _guardrail_?" Jounouchi yelped.

The night was full of questions like _that_.

Still, that didn't necessarily mean it was ruined. Yugi and Bakura were within throwing distance on the platform, ready to begin their duel, the rest of the cheerleading squad was being quiet, Namu and Malik were being unobtrusive (luckily—Seto still had no interest in trusting either to do anything but to be a nuisance), Isono was refereeing (again), Setsuna was off taking MP3 players apart for her newest "teenage mad science" project (which meant that no one was going to get kicked in sensitive places), and so far nothing had blown up. It was certainly going to be an interesting semifinal round. Mokuba was by his side, safe, and Seto had ordered Sonozaki to take a break, so it was almost like the entire situation was normal.

Of course, that didn't mean that the usual cast of idiots couldn't still get on his nerves. _Thanks a lot, mutt._

"The barriers are at waist height." Seto retorted, "It's your own fault if you manage to walk off the blimp."

"Attention, duelists!" Isono barked, apparently much happier when Sonozaki wasn't around to give him her signature dead-eyed stare. "The first semifinal duel, between Mutou Yugi and Bakura Ryou, is about to begin. Competitors, begin when ready."

"It's the other Yugi again." Mokuba murmured.

Seto said nothing, his eyes locked on Yugi. Sure enough, the other, dominant personality came to the forefront again; the one that always broadcasted confidence like the Tokyo Tower. There was a brief flash of light from the gaudy gold pendant he wore—meaningless—and the transformation was complete. _This_ was the opponent Seto most wanted to beat. _This_ was the unconquerable one.

Both duelists drew the standard five-card hand. Life Point counters automatically brought the total up to four thousand as the Duel Disks activated.

_Don't lose, Mutou. _

_Especially not to someone as unimportant as __**him**__._

* * *

About sixty feet below, Setsuna was working on her newest big project.

Well, if you called splicing an MP3 player, a metal detector, and a wristwatch together _work_. And doing it in your prospective boss's office, while eating cup ramen and watching the duel between the white-haired pretty boy and the guy who looked like his hair genes had been spliced with those of a particularly garish starfish.

Then again, coming from someone whose hair looked like a head of cabbage placed upside-down on a girl's head, that probably wasn't saying all that much.

"That…is a lot of mouths…" Setsuna mumbled to no one, watching a field of red and black clouds swarm the dueling platform, peppered with randomly-placed eyes and horrible fanged mouths. "I wonder what this Bakura guy had before he came up with this…" Schizophrenia came to mind for some reason. Possibly _paranoid_ schizophrenia and a degree in abstract art, given the fact that he seemed to be talking to himself on top of everything else.

Shrugging to herself, Setsuna propped her feet up on the console and practically inhaled the instant ramen. Kaiba had good taste in luxury office chairs; she'd give him that much credit. But he apparently had a fantastically voyeuristic streak (_somewhere_…), because she'd discovered that _every_ room except his own had a security camera in it through a little tinkering. It was kind of creepy.

"Boys will be boys." Setsuna mused to herself, draining the last of the cup's contents and tossing the cup itself into the trash bin. "Let's get back to the…wait a minute." She sat up, staring at the screen. The funny eye on the little inverted pyramid pendant Mutou wore…she'd seen it before. The funny dream catcher-looking thing Bakura wore had the same symbol, too. _And_… "So, Mutou and Bakura have the same powers as Malik?"

It wasn't a tenuous link—her uncle had taught her that if a symbol showed up more than once, chances were that the two occurrences were connected; it was just a question of how. It was common sense, sort of, but in the case of magic it was never a coincidence. Ever. Maybe normal people would come up with ideas that would pop up a continent away without any help, but if there was any power in a sign it was a definite, concrete connection.

"I hate magic sometimes." Setsuna grumbled, turning off all the monitors except for the one that belonged to Seto's actual computer. She mopped up the broth from the ramen that had dripped on the desk and got as many crumbs as she could out of the carpet, then packed up her electronic Frankenstein's monster and left. She needed to talk to Akiko.

* * *

In retrospect, the duel between Yugi and Bakura was one of the most disturbing things Mokuba had seen in a long, long time. Ever since Gozaburo had committed suicide by diving off a skyscraper, in fact. It probably had a lot to do with the disembodied mouths and eyes, and the sheer shock value of the monsters and magic in Bakura's deck. The majority of those cards seemed to have crawled out of Pegasus's worst nightmares to infect the waking world.

"_Someone's_ into the occult," Mokuba heard Jounouchi mutter, but he couldn't tell if was in disapproval or not.

Mokuba glanced at his brother, wondering what was going through his head. Bakura's deck relied almost entirely on effects—his monsters' stats alone were rather weak, except for those of Dark Necrofear. Even then, a single level five monster from Seto's deck could have incinerated it, if not for its field card-triggering effect. But the sheer number of effect-dependent monsters was crippling for any normal opponent, especially when stacked with the numerous spell and trap cards the white-haired teenager was, frankly, abusing. Dark Sanctuary was _not_ a fun place to be.

It probably didn't help Yugi's chances that Bakura had almost total control over the field with his overlapping effects. Yugi could attack, possibly getting lucky and blasting a huge chunk of Bakura's Life Points away by successfully mauling one of Bakura's ghosts, or he could be _un_lucky and the attack would double back on him, frying his own Life Points instead.

Since both of them were down to about a thousand points each, the next move would make or break the duel. The entire thing with the magical Ouija board spelling out DEATH was putting even more pressure on Yugi, unbelievably, and somehow Mokuba wouldn't put it past Bakura to pull something if it looked like he was about to lose.

But Yugi (or rather, the more aggressive personality) still had one last trick to play, and it involved a big red serpent with two mouths and an attack like an anime death ray. "I sacrifice Black Magician Girl, Magnet Warrior Gamma, and Big Shield Gardna to summon the all-powerful Sky Dragon of Osiris!"

Later, Mokuba would swear that there was some kind of ominous chorus music playing when Osiris was summoned. Setsuna would deny everything, except the mysterious lightning strike that fried half of the computers. Or the holographic dragon that was _so freaking big_ that it wrapped around the blimp five times and strained the projectors practically to their limits. Neither of them mentioned the bit where Bakura apparently had a mental breakdown (which everyone seemed to think was Malik's fault), since Yugi and his friends freaked out enough over it for everyone.

Needless to say, Bakura got creamed.

As the paramedics were getting him off the platform, Mokuba saw his brother shoot a look at Malik and Namu, rather than watch to see if Bakura was showing any signs of consciousness. He said nothing about it, but Mokuba wondered nonetheless.

Whatever the case, they could only move forward. Malik and Jou were up next, after a break.

* * *

Setsuna had managed to work herself into a worried frenzy by the time she kicked Akiko's door down. She wasn't sure why she was so anxious, but it had something to do with that glowing eyeball that had practically burned itself into her retinas the day before. If it had anything to do with Malik, it was bad news. She needed to talk to someone who knew at least something about magic and who she was sure wasn't involved in any way, and that meant Akiko.

But then she got through the door and stopped dead.

Apparently completely at ease with the radically lower temperature and swaying cabin of the blimp, Akiko was just walking out of the bathroom—or rather, the shower—when Setsuna barged in.

For a moment, and for what seemed like the first time in her life, Setsuna was at a loss for words. It wasn't the whole "my sister is naked" thing that bothered her—she'd seen any number of more embarrassing/interesting/what-the-crap-is-_that_/awkward things just at the local hot springs—no, it was the fact that there was a big, _ugly_ blue tattoo running from the inside of her sister's hip to right below her right breast. It looked a little like a cross between a single spiky wing and a chainsaw, but Setsuna didn't get much of a look before Akiko covered herself with a towel.

Setsuna wasn't sure if she was supposed to meet her older sister's eyes, but she tried anyway. "Oneesama…what was that mark?"

Akiko's red eyes seemed to glow in the fluorescent lighting. "Nothing."

Setsuna nodded, but she couldn't get the image out of her head. _What a horrible, horrible mark_. It looked raw and almost like a burn and just _disgusting_… And yet, she'd seen that particular shade of blue somewhere, too. Probably back amongst the scrolls she had stolen from her clan. Whatever the mark meant, it was bad, or at least an indicator for something bad. _My clan never allowed tattoos for that exact reason_. Setsuna thought. She paused. _Or…at least I __**think**__ they don't…_

"Please leave me alone to change clothes, Houjou-san." Akiko said in a voice that was even more stiffly formal than usual.

"Um…okay, neesama." Setsuna mumbled. "And…could you please call me by my first name? It's kind of important." _It's more like a thing that __**everyone**__ does, blast it. I'm your sister! Can't you call me by my name? I don't even know if I'm really even a Houjou anymore!_

Akiko said nothing for a moment, her red eyes meeting her sister's unblinkingly. Then, "Please leave the room, Setsuna-kun. I will be finished in a moment."

Setsuna bowed her head and left the room. Even though she hadn't been able to ask anything about the weird eye, she did have something else to look up. _What in heck is that mark for?_

_Well, now it's time to either bug Yugi about that eye, Seto about using his computer for web searches (do we even have internet up here?), or Mokuba. If I can't get anything else done tonight, I'm going to sit down with Mokuba and wreck my sleep schedule by watching _G Gundam_ all night. I hope he has a DVD player with a good battery._

* * *

In the infirmary…

"I can't believe Malik would just brainwash Bakura like that!" Jounouchi ranted. "The guy's worse than Pegasus!"

Yugi didn't say anything, concentrating on his mental link with his other half even as medics and his friends swarmed Bakura's hospital bed. _What do you think?_

_It might be a trick_, Yami remarked. _We've both fought the dark spirit in the Millennium Ring before, and that was definitely him. If anyone __**else**__ can laugh like that, I'll throw the next duel._

_You sound serious._ Yugi teased, but he also heard Jou mumble something rather dark. "Jounouchi, you're dueling Malik next. If anyone has a say in how this is going to end for him, it's you."

_I still say that this is going to end up being a deathmatch between us and Malik._ Yami said quietly. _Isis was very definite about that prophecy._

_But Jou might end up beating him. We just don't know yet_, Yugi said.

"I know, Yugi." Jounouchi said with a sigh as Anzu fussed over Bakura. He grinned suddenly, and rather evilly. "I'm going to beat that creep into the dirt and save you the trouble."

Yugi smiled. "Thanks, Jounouchi."

The door to the infirmary slid open and the green-haired girl from before walked in. She stopped, apparently surprised by the crowd, and waved. "Hi. How'd the first semifinal duel go?"

_How can she not know?_ Yugi wondered. Still, he answered before Jounouchi or Honda could yell. "I won, but Bakura's…" He tilted his head at the bed. None of the swarm of doctors (and Anzu) even noticed the entrance.

"Oh, sorry," she mumbled. She shrugged. "I didn't see the last few turns, but the Sky Dragon of Osiris was kind of hard to miss."

_I don't even know her name and I already don't like her._ Yami said. _She's that girl who kicked Pandora and Strings._

Yugi gave the spirit a mental glare. _Hush._

"Anyway, I don't think we were ever properly introduced," the girl said, bowing to the room at large, and Yugi noticed that she was carrying a briefcase a lot like the one Kaiba used for his cards. "I'm Houjou Setsuna. I already know most of your names since I kind of work for KaibaCorp now and got to see all the semifinalists' records, but…um." She blushed. "Sorry, this is kind of embarrassing for me."

_For __**you**__?_ Yami asked sarcastically. Yugi shushed him again. For some reason, Setsuna was looking directly at the space Yami would have occupied if he was solid or visible. _What? It's not like she can hear me._

_Keep the snark-fest to a minimum._ Yugi said. _I think she might be able to see you._

_Her?_

_Yes, her._

After a moment, Setsuna said sharply, "As funny as this might be, can the two Yugis please stop talking about me like I'm not here?"

Yami blinked. _Oops._

"Wait, you can see the difference between—?" Jou began, and stopped to start over. "You can _see_ Yami?" Everyone stared at her.

"Um, _yeah_." Setsuna frowned. "It's a clan thing. And anyway, it's kind of hard to miss a hairstyle like that."

_What's wrong with my hair?_ Yami was completely bewildered. No one had ever mentioned it before.

"Nothing, except the rainbow starfish vibes," Setsuna replied. She held up the briefcase. "And I wanted to catch one of you before you headed up—I need to know a few things about the funny magic eyeball I keep seeing all over the place."

Yami said, _The Eye of Horus? It's only been on the Millennium Items and a few different cards so far._

"What magic eyeball?" Otogi asked. Shizuka looked equally clueless, trying to figure out what all of the core members of Yugi's group of friends were suddenly so worried about.

As the grandson of an archeologist, the host of an ancient spirit, and probably the only person who had enough contact with magic to halfway understand it (besides Bakura, who wasn't exactly available), Yugi was the one who ended up talking. They went to the cafeteria, though—there was no point in bothering Bakura anymore now that the doctors had showed up, and they ended up settling in for a session of show-and-tell over enough green tea to kill normal people.

"…So the Horus Eye is mostly a symbol used with the Millennium Items, though in Egypt there are a lot more things with the mark." Yugi finished after a longwinded explanation. "Where did you see it the first time?"

Setsuna, who had been scribbling notes on everything that was being said, looked up. "The first time I saw it was when we broke in on your duel with Pandora. It was on his forehead while Malik was talking through him."

Anzu frowned. "I didn't see anything back then. Are you sure it was real?"

"It could just be your imagination," Honda began. "Then again, hanging out with Yugi means you get to see weirder stuff than usual anyway."

"I still don't get how your clan figures into all of this." Jounouchi put in, his arm on his sister's shoulder. She didn't seem to have anything to say.

Setsuna shrugged. "Everyone in my clan can see magic, regardless of whether it's ours or not. The old records say we used to have a lot of sorcerers in the family, and miko or Shinto priests, which might be why, but they're all gone now." She scribbled something else. "Okay. I think I have a working hypothesis now."

_I thought we left that behind in chemistry class._ Yami muttered. _So, "if, then, because" format?_

"Yeah." Setsuna said, not even noticing that no one besides Yugi could hear her conversation partner anyway. "If I see the Horus Eye on anyone else, or anywhere else, then that person/place/thing has something to do with the Millennium Items and I should probably stay clear or use a taser on it, because it's probably dangerous."

_That's not…_ Yami began.

"Oh, like you're not dangerous." Setsuna said. "Anyway, I can't see or hear you when you're dueling with Yugi."

"Why not? Usually we just switch places." Yugi said.

In the background, Otogi's eyes were starting to cross. "What in the world are they talking about?"

Shizuka had no idea either.

"I don't know. Maybe you two work too closely together and the edges start blurring." Setsuna shrugged. "I saw an aura when you dueled that guy with all the piercings, but I didn't know why. Now I do."

"Really?" Yugi was surprised. He'd never met anyone who could tell all of that just from looking. As far as he knew, not even the malevolent Yami Bakura could tell him and Yami apart without looking closely. Over time, his friends had gotten used to reading attitudes to tell which one was in control, but even that was sometimes unreliable depending on their moods. "You're the first person to tell me that."

"I'm probably the first person from my clan you've met who's willing to tell you about it." She blushed faintly. "I actually thought you and Bakura were crazy before this."

Yugi shrugged. "Most people do."

"If you can tell if Yugi or the Pharaoh's in control, can you do it with Bakura and the evil spirit lodged in his head?" Jounouchi asked.

Setsuna appeared to think about it. "I'm not sure. I've never tried it with a homicidal maniac before."

"Bakura's not…well, Yami Bakura is…" Honda sighed. "I just wish we could get rid of that stupid Millennium Ring for good."

Yugi sighed. Ever since the tabletop game that had involved sealing everyone's soles into lead miniatures, Yami Bakura had resisted every attempt to drive him away from the normal, sane Bakura Ryou. Yami had killed Zorc and Yami Bakura by proxy (and worse, normal Bakura by accident, though he got better) and sent Yami Bakura to the Graveyard, Honda had thrown the Millennium Ring into the woods of Pegasus's island like a Frisbee, and just now Yami had blasted Yami Bakura with the Sky Dragon of Osiris's full wrath. No one was dumb enough to think he was gone for good, though.

_I swear he's part cockroach._ Yami said.

Setsuna frowned. "Anyway, what do you mean by "Pharaoh"? I thought there were only three Egyptians on this airship."

_According to Isis and her stone tablet, I'm the spirit of the Nameless Pharaoh from three thousand years ago._ Yami explained, adopting his "I have complete faith in what I'm saying" voice. _It comes with a lot of responsibility, or at least that's what she told us._ He took a deep breath, though it wasn't strictly necessary for a disembodied spirit. _I know for a fact that I'm the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, though._

Setsuna looked at the spirit and said, "I don't really understand how you managed to stand three thousand years in a gold pendant, but I'll take you at your word on that."

_It has occasional benefits._

"Sure." Setsuna muttered.

Jounouchi was still bothered by what Setsuna had said earlier, though. "There are three Egyptians on the blimp?"

"Three…? Isis, Malik, and Namu, right?" Anzu guessed.

"Right." Setsuna said. "But only Isis checked in with the embassy."

She got a round of blank looks.

_What's an embassy?_ Yami asked. Yugi mentally shushed him.

"So, Malik and Namu are in the country illegally." Otogi said.

"Or one or both of them is using a fake name. Kaiba, Mokuba, and neesama talked it over with me before we even took off." Setsuna said.

"Then why'd Kaiba let them compete?" Jounouchi asked. "It's not like him to just be nice to a pair of guys who're down on their luck, especially when one of them tried to kidnap Mokuba."

"Beats me," the green-haired girl answered. "I think that's why he made them sign waivers, though."

"…Okay, _that's_ more like Kaiba." Jounouchi groaned. Then the evil smile was back. "Does that mean we can legally throw them off the blimp?"

Setsuna shook her head sadly. "No, that's still murder. I had Kaiba check."

Jounouchi snorted.

_I take it back._ Yami said suddenly.

Yugi stared at him. _Take what back?_

_She's not as bad as I thought she was._

_Yami!_

* * *

Mokuba somehow wasn't surprised when Setsuna showed up as soon as the fireworks started. Granted, it had been the second lightning strike of the night and had been the harbinger of even more crappy weather, but that wasn't the only problem.

Maybe that was why Mokuba had narrated recent events to Setsuna so quickly that her eyes went blank for a moment.

Then, "Whoa, whoa, slow down. His Winged God Dragon of Ra is a _fake_?" For some reason, she looked more panicked than he felt.

In the background, the other Yugi and his friends were trying to get Jounouchi to stop standing around like an idiot—hello? _Lightning_? Always strikes the tallest objects?

"I said that a minute ago!" Mokuba said exasperatedly, "Yes, it was a fake. Why does it matter?" He ducked—freaking _lightning_ everywhere—!

Setsuna's head automatically swiveled toward the platform, where lightning was falling almost as though it was rain. She screamed, "GET _DOWN_, YOU IDIOTS!"

Otogi and Honda managed to grab Jou by the ankles and haul him to the ground, right as Setsuna scrambled onto the platform and smashed into the side of Malik's knee like a green-tipped missile. Everyone hit the deck, even Seto after he'd smacked Namu hard enough to make him listen. The lightning continued to fall for a while, stabbing wildly into the blimp and the clouds around it, until it managed to strike the gently blinking light on the nose of the blimp and began to drain away.

"Is everyone all right?" Sonozaki? Where had she been? Mokuba managed to crawl out from his brother's tight embrace and survey the carnage.

There was a chorus of "Yes" and "I think so" from various places. Yugi and his friends were okay, though Jou had a pretty bad bump on his chin from where he'd hit the platform before Otogi and Honda had dragged him off. Isono was coming out from under the platform, shaking, and so was Isis. Namu seemed fine, though Mokuba wasn't sure about that, and…well, Setsuna was up, and she was looking for her hat. Only Malik wasn't moving.

What was it with Egyptian God Cards and lightning anyway? And it was _real_ lightning, too, not a hologram!

"What happened here?" Sonozaki asked, climbing onto the platform. Mokuba, after a moment in which Seto seemed to debate whether it was a good idea to let him go up there, followed.

"Malik played a fake God card." Mokuba explained as Sonozaki rolled Malik over to get a look at his face. "And then there was all this lightning…"

Sonozaki nodded as Setsuna approached, holding a hat with a hole in it and missing one shoe. Isis was nearby, hanging back as if torn between two emotions. Mokuba wasn't sure if it was a net good or net bad thing.

"What happened to you?" Mokuba asked. _Don't tell me…_

"I got hit. What does it look like?" Setsuna mumbled. She sat down with a thump, inspecting the hole the blast had blown in one of her thigh-high socks. "I didn't bring another pair…ugh."

Mokuba decided not to listen to her. Sonozaki was taking Malik's pulse.

"He'll probably live." Sonozaki announced as the medical team arrived. Isis somehow managed to get Malik's head balanced on her lap and was whispering something to him. Sonozaki ignored this and continued, "I have no expertise in keraunomedicine, but if he isn't dead yet then he has at least a chance…"

"Keraunomedicine?" Setsuna asked as the medics started to look her over for injuries. She yelped when one of them touched the bump on her head.

"The study of lightning casualties." Mokuba answered. _At least all that advanced science was good for __**something**_. "You think Malik's going to be able to walk when he gets up?"

Setsuna glanced at the unconscious man. "I think so. I don't weigh that much, and I hit him mostly from behind, I think." She wiggled her exposed toes. "Kind of feels funny, like I barely avoided something really, really dangerous."

Mokuba looked up at the still-disintegrating holograms, remembering hearing Isis rant right before the storm flared up. "Like the wrath of a god?"

And then the screaming started.

Everyone turned to stare at Namu, who was clutching his head and screaming like he was being burned alive, stumbling back and forth and bouncing off the railing (and _nearly_ falling off—later, Mokuba would hear Seto cursing the guardrails). Malik stirred briefly, tilting his tattooed head to stare as Namu proceeded to have what looked like an _epic_ mental breakdown.

"Oh, Rishid, what have you done?" Isis murmured, staring at Namu helplessly. "Malik…"

"Rishid?" Mokuba looked at the Sonozaki sisters, who didn't seem particularly surprised by the revelation, and he whipped his head around to look at Namu again. "But he—and him—what's going on here?"

"He has the Millennium Rod!" the other Yugi gasped in dawning comprehension, staring at the convulsing young man in wide-eyed horror. Most of his friends followed suit, but the other Yugi made it look less stupid. Not by much, but at least a little. Maybe it was because his eyes were so big.

Setsuna gave two coughs that sounded a lot like, "Captain Obvious!" The remains of the fake Millennium Rod were blowing away like so much dust in the wind. Rishid's hand was probably fried.

Mokuba elbowed her, since he had a slightly better-developed sense of dramatic timing.

"What? I _liked_ that hat." Setsuna grumbled, but not loudly enough that it ruined the moment.

"So this is the man behind the man, who's been making so much trouble?" Sonozaki said quietly, tilting her head a little. "I wondered."

"Yes…I'm the real Malik," the blonde hissed, turning to them like the villain he was. He looked like he had managed to gain control of himself for the moment.

…_He could have at least __**tried**__ to deny it._ Mokuba thought.

"Yugi…I want to kill you, here and now." Malik said, appropriately evil-sounding. Then another voice, not quite his own, added, "No matter what it takes." And then he was convulsing and grasping at his head again like he had the worst hangover ever and someone had turned on the lights.

Rishid gasped, scaring off the medical team (once Sonozaki had finally lost her temper with them). Jounouchi, who had managed to get back on the platform after some struggling, felt the badly-strained man grip his shirt, though Isis was trying to get him to stop. "You have…you have to stop him. Malik-sama…it's his other side!"

"Other side?" Jounouchi repeated, his eyes going wide as the other Yugi joined them on the platform.

"Why does _everyone_ have a split personality around here?" Setsuna demanded of no one in particular.

Rishid struggled to speak, "If I fall…if I die, that other half will wake up and…" And he was _out_.

"That's not good." Mokuba muttered, his eyes locked on Malik down below. The man was already screaming again. Seto was still down there with that maniac!

Then all of them felt a rush of _something_ that made their hair stand on end (Yugi didn't count). There was a lot of yellow light and the screaming never, ever stopped, and by the end of it their nerves were almost completely frayed.

And then Malik managed to get himself back under control, and Mokuba felt like using a lot of words that Seto told him not to. The hair was entirely different, and there was a further edge of malice in Malik's voice. It wasn't like Malik's normal instability, which could be predicted and forced on a different path if you offered enough distractions. It was like a chainsaw on a harp—just the will to make everything else _suffer_.

"That's worse." Setsuna whispered to Mokuba, and he nodded. "And the Horus eye is back. And his face is distorting."

Mokuba blinked. "What?"

They might have gone on like that for a while, but Isis shushed them.

"So, it's finally my turn to take the stage." Malik—no, not Malik, any more than the other Yugi was the shy kid from Domino High—said. "Heh. When this weakling's in control, I can't come out and play…"

"Who. Are. _You_." the other Yugi demanded, punctuating each word with anger.

Not-Malik tilted his head almost playfully, giving the other Yugi a sidelong glance that was more terrifying than even the monsters in Bakura's deck. "You might say I'm the part of Malik that he's so afraid of… But I? Heh. I'm the one with no inhibitions. I can do everything Malik was too much of a coward to do…" He laughed, and to Mokuba it was one of the worst things he had ever heard, even if Bakura had laughed longer and Pegasus had meant more harm to him directly. "I embraced the darkness. How about you, Pharaoh?"

The other Yugi stared, his eyes wide. But he wasn't backing down. None of them were.

"It's so much better to be free of that meddling Rishid." Not-Malik said, and it didn't seem like he could look at anyone without picturing them dead. "He was such a _nuisance_."

"Malik…" There was a warning in Jounouchi's voice. It was the kind that went "keep doing what you're doing and I'll knock your head off."

Not-Malik didn't seem interested in him at all. He turned back to the other Yugi, and to Seto. Mokuba felt his heart stop. Setsuna squeezed his arm.

"You know, Kaiba, only someone with a connection to a Millennium Item can use all of the Egyptian God cards." Not-Malik was just taunting them now. "I wonder, can you control any of them at all…?"

Seto's eyes narrowed slightly, but there was no doubt that Not-Malik had failed to make a dent. "Says the one with only one God to his name. Or did you think I didn't notice that I can, in fact, control Obelisk?"

"Are you _sure_, Kaiba?" Not-Malik remarked. "Or maybe those three-thousand-year-old memories of yours are coming to the surface after all…"

Mokuba saw the other Yugi's eyes go wide and wondered about it, but in the end he was much more worried about the homicidal maniac standing fifteen feet from his brother. Sure, the guy would have to go through Yugi first, but…

"Heh…Yugi and the Pharaoh…" Not-Malik smiled. "The show's starting again right now. Our duel for the fate of your world is coming. No one gets out alive. Are you ready?"

He began to laugh again. It was just as bad as the first time he did it, too.

And then Sonozaki threw her Duel Disk at him and whacked him in the head.

* * *

**A/N:** Not much to say here either.


	7. Are We There Yet?

**Chapter Seven: Are We There Yet?**

**A/N:** School. That is all.

* * *

Even though Yami Malik most likely had a mild-to-mildly-annoying concussion, he ended up deciding to duel Kujaku Mai anyway.

It looked like Mai was going to steamroll him for a while—except for the ankle-grabbing gold cuffs Yami Malik had summoned, nothing else was giving her the slightest bit of trouble. Her monsters tore their way through all of the creatures in his deck's ranks, not even slowing after a dozen destroyed traps and effect monsters.

And then Mai had somehow gotten her hands on Yami Malik's Winged Dragon of Ra and the situation started to go downhill.

Like, _really_ downhill. Avalanche style.

It had started with Yami Malik smirking like a sociopath (which he was) after Mai had gotten the card.

"I don't like that look." Setsuna muttered from beside Mokuba, squinting up at the duelists. "He looks like a serial killer."

"Maybe because he is?" Seto suggested sarcastically. "Still, it's an interesting turn of events."

"No kidding." Mokuba said, glaring at the Egyptian. "I hope she fries him."

Sonozaki reappeared (What was with her and disappearing between every match, anyway?) from the elevator as the duelists continued their bragging contest, wearing an entirely different outfit from before. For some reason, she was wearing a long-sleeved shirt two sized too big, track pants, and a pair of fluffy bunny slippers, and her hair was tied back into a loose ponytail. She looked like she'd just stumbled out of bed and out the door. Her expression was as blank as always ,even though everyone else was in the process of freaking out.

Mokuba decided not to comment if no one else was planning on doing so. Anyway, at least she wasn't wearing a bathrobe.

When Mokuba looked up next, everyone was in a clamor. The three Harpy Lady Sisters were disappearing in a whirlwind of light and the light was getting stronger. Nearly blinding, actually. Either way, they started to be able to see a shape through the pain, after a while.

And apparently the giant glowing billiard ball was supposed to be the strongest monster in the entire Duel Monsters game.

"You're kidding me." Setsuna grumbled, clearly underwhelmed. "What are we supposed to do with that, play baseball with Gundams?" Mokuba shushed her.

Seto, meanwhile, had had much the same thought processes, but had enough restraint to keep from actually verbalizing it. It probably had something to do with the sheer number of files on his computer (which had appeared quite mysteriously over the last half hour) that had something to do with _G Gundam_. The series had drilled itself into his brain despite his best efforts.

He still needed to run a virus scan on the folder labeled "fanfics." He was fairly sure it contained the spawn of a cosmic abomination on par with Cthulu.

"Pegasus." Seto muttered, staring up at the dormant god. "This seems like something he'd do to limit the number of people who could use it."

"Pegasus J. Crawford?" Setsuna asked.

Seto gave her a sidelong glare. He was _trying_ to pay attention to the dialogue between the two duelists. Really. As usual, she ignored him and started muttering to herself.

"You have to read _hieroglyphs_ to play this card? That's a cheap trick!" Mai shouted.

"Cheap as it may be, assure you it is no trick, Mai-chan." Yami Malik remarked, smirking. "Didn't you do any research? These are _Egyptian_ God Cards. Why would the strongest one be usable by just anyone?" He threw his head back and began to chant.

"Because Pegasus is American?" Mokuba guessed in an undertone. "And because there are about three Egyptians in the competitive dueling scene at all and all of them are _here_?"

"And they all have the same last name…" Setsuna mumbled.

"_Great beast of the sky  
please hear my cry  
transform yourself from the orb of light  
and bring me victory in this fight  
envelop the desert with your glow  
and cast your rage upon my foe  
unlock your powers deep within  
so that together we may win  
appear in this shadow game as I call your name  
Winged Dragon of RA!" _

Mai was promptly launched halfway across the dueling platform by monsters made physical. Really—Mokuba was starting to wonder if Yami Malik had a thing for bondage. As of the most recent turn, Mai was stuck to some funny hieroglyph-laden rock by her ankles and wrists and couldn't draw cards or anything and…wait a minute, since when were the monsters solid?

Then Sonozaki walked in front of him and Seto pushed his head down. Apparently, it was something middle school students shouldn't have been seeing.

Everyone forgot to include Setsuna in that category, for some reason.

Unnoticed by everyone, Setsuna pulled out a MP3 player (or what looked like it could have been one, before a tragic accident with a metal detector and a cell phone) and pointed it at Yami Malik. She pressed the Play button.

Immediately, there was a cacophony of beeping noises from the poor, abused machine, which drew everyone's attention at least momentarily.

She checked the tiny screen for a result. "Hey, fifteen hundred thaums. Yami Malik's using magic and breaking reality."

Had the situation not been so dire, everyone would have facepalmed. _NO, REALLY?_

Still, Sonozaki merely nodded. Apparently, that number meant something to her.

At the same time as Yami Malik started demanding that his shiny new monster blast Mai from the face of the earth, three things happened in rapid succession. Then a fourth.

One, Jounouchi moved in an adrenaline-fueled blur up and across the platform. Malik was laughing, but he didn't care one bit. Jou ran, skidding to a stop right in front of Mai.

"What the hell are you doing, Jou?" Mai shrieked, and she would have kicked him or slapped him if her legs or hands had been free.

"I'm trying to save you, so shut up!" Jou snapped back, grabbing the Binding Arms monster and trying to pull it free of the suddenly-solid Ceremonial Stone apparition. "Damn it! It won't break!"

"Jou, just get out of here!" Mai shouted desperately, "You don't need to do this!"

"I _want_ to do this!" Jou replied in an equally desperate yell. "You're my friend, Mai! I won't leave anyone I care about to die like this!"

Mai stopped, lowering her head. Jou gave up on pulling—the monster obviously wasn't going to let go—and stood firm. He tilted his head a little. "Hey, Mai? I'm not going anywhere."

"I know."

Two, Yami Malik laughed even louder. "Is that it? All that the little lovebirds can show me? Well, if you're in such a hurry to die, I'm happy to oblige! Winged Dragon of Ra, kill them both!"

Three, Yami managed to run between Jou and the impending blast. He was going to be a human shield, perhaps hoping that the magic generated by his Millennium Puzzle would deflect or absorb most of the blast.

"You aren't hurting anyone here, Malik, especially not just to get to me!" Yami shouted, his voice ringing strong and furious through the air. "So if you think you can take me on, just try it!"

The fiery energy exploded from Ra's mouth.

Four, Sonozaki leapt twelve feet in the air, slammed one slipper-clad foot against the metal of the platform, and spun. Bubbles sprang up in midair like in a typical romance anime, along with floating hearts and other sickeningly cute things. Sweeping the disgustingly cliché anime special effects outwards with a practiced wave of her hand, where they smashed against the fire/laser breath of the Winged Dragon of Ra and held firm against all expectations, Sonozaki knelt next to the three stunned duelists.

Neither Mokuba nor Setsuna heard what she said. A minute later, the entire bubble affair was covered in dragon's fire so bright it hurt to look at it. Everyone who particularly cared about their eyebrows or the condition of their retinas (otherwise known as everyone except Seto and Anzu) ducked.

And yet, when the fire cleared, the bubble shield was still there. Mai's Life Points had dropped to zero, but she was still standing, and so were her three impromptu rescuers. Sonozaki snapped her fingers and the bubbles disappeared along with the duel holograms.

For a long moment, those in the audience were too stunned to speak. Then, from Sonozaki, there was a quiet, "Isono-san?"

The man in the suit straightened abruptly, unnerved by the woman's strangely even stare. She didn't blink any more than she had the first time he'd met her. "Ah! Um…Kaiba-sama?"

Seto rolled his eyes. The phrase "overdramatic idiots" came to mind. "Just declare the match over with. Kujaku Mai loses to Malik Ishtar."

"Er…yes." Isono coughed. "This duel has been decided! The winner is Malik Ishtar!"

There was no cheering.

Apparently still stunned by the sudden turn of events, Yami Malik just pointed the Millennium Rod at Mai. He seemed to be muttering death threats, but when the Rod flashed, there was an equal and opposite flash of harsh blue light from Mai that rebounded back in his face, sending him reeling. Everyone looked equally surprised, except for Seto—he was busy rebuking the hologram techs.

In a very small voice, Setsuna said, "What the hell?"

Yami Malik snarled. "Just what in Apep's name was _that_ supposed to be?"

Yami glanced at Sonozaki, who seemed nonplussed. Then he shrugged to himself and focused again on his enemy, while Jou and Mai looked utterly baffled behind him. "I'd say your little gambit with Ra didn't pay off, Malik. Mai's still here and whole, and I don't think anyone else even felt "your god's wrath," as you put it."

Yami Malik pointed the Millennium Rod at Yami, who glared back with his hand on the Puzzle. "What kind of pharaoh uses roses and bubbles to face a god?"

Sonozaki folded her arms under her chest. "Mutou-san did not. The defensive spell was my doing."

Wild violet eyes met impassive wine red. "You? You're just Kaiba's attack dog!"

"Which should probably tell you more than a little about my nature as an 'attack dog,' Ishtar-san." Sonozaki remarked coolly. "Very rarely are weaklings or dead weight in KaibaCorp employ for very long."

"Should she be doing that?" Mokuba whispered.

"Probably not." Setsuna replied, equally quiet.

"In any case, we should vacate the platform." Sonozaki intoned. "Kaiba-sama and Ishtar-san have a duel next, and it does not require us to argue here. We can, as per the colloquial usage, 'take it outside,' if you wish."

"Sonozaki." Seto interrupted sharply. The woman turned her head and her crimson gaze met his steely blue one. "Get them off the platform. Now."

The light left her eyes. "Yes, Kaiba-sama." She reached out and pulled the emergency lever.

As the stage descended, it became clear that no one wanted to talk all that much. Malik looked more like he was going to kill someone than speak civilly to anyone, particularly the other Yugi and Sonozaki, but otherwise the group left the platform in a deathly hush.

"_Can we get on with this_?" Seto's glare focused on Malik now. "If you really want to push it, Ishtar, remember that you didn't sign a waiver form and neither did they. If you put anyone here in a mental hospital, I'm taking the expenses out of _your_ hide before I do the same to you."

Yami Malik's already-narrow eyes became something akin to horizontal violet slits. "This isn't over."

"Understood." Sonozaki said softly as the platform's hydraulics went into action, locking it in place at almost floor level.

The duelists (and one magical ninja) walked off to absolute silence. Jounouchi was greeted a moment later by Shizuka's worried inquiries, and Yami was subjected to Anzu's Mama mode, and Mai was almost attacked by medical staff and Jou's frantic concern. Sonozaki even made it to the elevator and was about to press the button to go down again. Then, regaining her voice, Mai said, "Just what the hell was that?"

Sonozaki looked back as the group went silent again. Yami Malik sulked off in the corner but still seemed to be paying attention.

"Oneesama?" Setsuna began hesitantly. "That was….it was a lot of magic, right?"

Sonozaki locked her sister in place with her scarlet gaze and said evenly, "Correct."

"What?" Mai again.

There was a pause. Then Sonozaki went on to give what was possibly the longest speech of her employed life.

"Due to the nature of Ishtar-san's specialized purple-and-black magical battlefield aura, I decided it would be most prudent to block the magical sub-level of the Winged Dragon of Ra's flames, thus controlling the extent of the damage to all participants.

"Additionally, a brief survey of the previous effects of similar duels led me to conclude that the basic magical theme of the item carried by Ishtar-san would target a soul. Possibly the mind as well, given the later debriefing on the topic I received regarding Pandora and Mutou-san's duel. So I simply made it impossible to do so."

Setsuna blinked. So did everyone else (except Seto, who was wondering when the hell his tournament turned into the local loony bin).

Setsuna decided to start with the simplest part. "Debriefing?"

"Perhaps not the correct word," her older sister amended instantly. "Think of something more akin to the term 'to know in your bones.' This particular branch of magic is not something I have encountered previously except in small traces, mostly centered around Domino High School."

Unnoticed by anyone, Yugi winced. _Other me, I think we ought to have toned it down a bit over there._

The embodied spirit shrugged. _Perhaps. But if, through a ridiculous number of coincidental events, it managed to save Mai's soul, I don't care one bit._

_Hey!_

"In any case, I ended up studying numerous incidents centered in particular areas of the school." Sonozaki explained. "From the traces and later incident reports retrieved from the school, it was easy enough to piece together the sudden spike in mental hospital patients originating from the magical incidents. Eventually, it was revealed that all of these people had had contact with one person. And that person is Mutou-san."

If it had actually been Yugi standing there, he might have winced. But it was Yami, so he merely met Setsuna and Sonozaki's red-eyed stares with his own. "So what does this have to do with the Millennium Rod?"

Like a machine, Sonozaki answered, "Later observed reports, compiled from Duelist Kingdom records, indicated that your item was not totally unique. The golden Eye owned by Pegasus J. Crawford was another example, and it, like your own item, specialized in souls and mind manipulation. From there, it was a matter of further research. So far, there are unconfirmed reports and rumors of a total of seven individual items." She paused. "Ishtar-san's item was listed only twice, and few details are known, but it made the most sense for it to have similar abilities."

"True." Yami conceded. For a woman who might as well have been an animate doll, she had an unusually sharp mind. "Thank you."

Sonozaki blinked. "You are welcome, Mutou-san."

"You don't think he's dangerous at all?" Setsuna said in mild disbelief. The look on Seto's face was incredulous as well.

"No," her older sister said. "Currently, he has not given any indication that he is interested in causing harm to Bocchan. Ishtar-san has."

Yami Malik made a gagging noise. Yami smirked.

"And that's all you needed to know?" Setsuna boggled.

"After an extensive background check, yes."

Seto facepalmed.

"Niisama?"

"Damn it, just get out." Seto growled, fighting back a headache. And if the other Yugi started in with any of that smug mystical mumbo-jumbo, Seto wasn't sure he would be able to keep himself from punching him in the face, which would have legal consequences. But it would feel _really_ good.

Sonozaki bowed. "Yes, Kaiba-sama." She disappeared into the elevator, followed by Setsuna, Mai, Jounouchi, and the other Yugi, who had thrown a smirk at him before leaving.

Seto resisted the urge to snarl at him and said roughly, "Move on to the next duel, Isono."

"Yes, Kaiba-sama!"

* * *

"While that was awesome," Setsuna said seriously during the elevator ride, "it was also needlessly complicated and your delivery was totally flat."

Sonozaki blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"That kind of thing should be said in a shout to the heavens! And preferably over your enemy's defeated form. And what was with the shoujo love bubbles?"

"I'm more concerned with what you did to me." Mai said, rubbing her side.

"How in the world can you sense Shadow magic?" Yami wondered aloud.

Jounouchi put in, "And will this make it easier to kick Malik's ass?"

Sonozaki blinked again, slowly. "Setsuna-kun, the bubble effect is part of a defensive spell I picked up in a contract several years ago. Kujaku-san, I attached a soul anchor to your body so Malik could not move it. Mutou-san, it is a clan secret. Jounouchi-san, I do not know."

"Our entire clan can see magic. I thought I already told you that." Setsuna said, frowning. "I mean, sure, not all of us can use it…wait a damn minute." She turned to look at Mai, and for the first time noticed something wrong with the woman. Her aura glowed blue in places. "She has the same mark you do! That's a _soul anchor_?"

"Mark?" Mai asked, staring at the two sisters. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Setsuna scowled fiercely. Or at least she tried. "It's more like a tattoo than an actual spell. But it will literally lock your soul into whatever the ink's on. Nothing can get rid of it unless the counterspell is used, not even dying."

Yami said nothing for a moment. Then, "That sounds like it has too many risks to be a good idea in the long run. What if you get hit by a car?"

"Then your soul dies with your body." Sonozaki replied.

_Does this sound familiar, other me?_

_Unfortunately yes._ He put a cupped the Millennium Puzzle in one hand. _Very eerily so._

"So why'd you use it on Mai?" Jou demanded.

Sonozaki said quietly, "There are very few other ways to get around magic like Ishtar-san's. If he changes his angle, she will still be in danger, but by fighting him _and_ applying the seal, which he does not know about, I am now a more important target for his rage."

"So with Mai like this, it's more important to find a way to turn Malik into ground hamburger than to actually help her?" Jou snapped.

"The anchor I used can be removed. I will do so as soon as Ishtar-san is neutralized." Sonozaki said.

"You can leave that part up to us." Yami said. At the sisters' questioning gazes, he explained, "Malik made it clear before that he wants to kill me. His split personality is more of the same."

"He's been going after everyone we know since this tournament started." Jou said. "Me, Yugi, Anzu, Honda, Shizuka, Mai…look, we're going to be the ones to take him down."

Setsuna spoke first. "…I totally should have shoved him off the airship when I had a chance."

Yami shook his head. "No, I think it's better this way. That would have just been avoiding the confrontation entirely, not to mention having blood on your hands when you're only thirteen. He's not worth it."

Setsuna frowned. "I think I can see what you're saying…" She sighed, "Killing isn't exactly _discouraged_ by the Houjou family. The Houjou family has been fighting demons and ghouls for so long that, until I was born, all of us were taught to ward them off before they turned ten years old. Among the Sonozaki family…well. Kaachan said they were criminal bosses."

Sonozaki shrugged. "In and around Hinamizawa, in any case."

Jounouchi frowned. "So, what are we going to do about Malik?"

"It'd be kind of nice to know he's not going to kill me in my sleep…" Mai added.

Yami glanced at Setsuna and her sister Koto—no, Akiko? Something like that. "Can you figure out how to set up wards around the airship? I can do at least a few tricks and put in magical traps if it's necessary, but it would be nice if we had a way to keep him out that he doesn't understand enough to counter."

Sonozaki nodded. "Give me some time. I will gather supplies and meet you in the cafeteria."

"Right."

And the longest elevator ride in the world ended.

* * *

Putting up wards all over the airship—in Sharpie, because they couldn't find enough ink in other forms—was actually kind of fun. After the passengers' rooms were defended from Malik's presence, though, Yami bowed out. It was okay, mostly because it didn't quite matter as much if Yami Malik was locked out of the staff bathrooms or the cafeteria. Sonozaki hadn't bothered to tell him which room the man was actually supposed to spend the night in, which might have been why they eventually warded every passenger compartment on the entire ship.

Eventually, though, they also ended up on the highest point on the airship, with the rest of the crowd. Mai was surrounded by a protective ring of friends that included Jounouchi, Honda, Anzu, and everyone else, with Yami standing the closest to Yami Malik without even looking at him. Mokuba hovered within a few feet of the starfish-headed King of Games, staring upward at his brother, who was dueling Ishizu.

Badly.

Setsuna frowned as another of Seto's monsters was blasted off the field and another trap destroyed. "Is it just me, or is she playing with him?"

"There's no way a nobody like Ishizu would be able to beat Oniisama!" Mokuba snapped at her, almost reflexively.

"Mokuba-chan, I'm not _stupid_." Setsuna replied sharply. "I was a good enough duelist that I managed to get an invite to this tournament, remember? And I know when someone's going to get _stomped_ _on_."

"But Oniisama still has Obelisk!" Except…hadn't Seto gotten the God card from _Ishizu_? She probably knew all of its weaknesses.

Seto and Yami gave them simultaneous Looks. Yeah, that Look. The middle-schoolers winced and quieted themselves.

"Okay, so Kaiba's got Obelisk out." Setsuna said in a whisper when the two fierce rivals turned back to the game. "Ishizu looks like she's been waiting for it."

"What can you do against a God card besides avoid it?" Mokuba asked. "I've seen that thing take out the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon before."

"And I've seen Yugi run rings around one." Setsuna pointed out. "If you can't beat it in a straight fight, you work around it and hammer your opponent that way."

"How did Yugi work around Osiris?" Mokuba frowned a little. "From what I saw, all he did was force Strings' strategy against him. The pieces were already in place."

"Right. That's the idea." Setsuna gestured in the direction of the ongoing duel. "So, what happens if the bits of Ishizu's strategy are already there, too? _And_ she knows how to take out a God?"

Well, Mokuba had to admit that if anyone knew how to smash a God card to bits, it would be the woman entrusted with keeping the damn things.

"And besides," Setsuna said, "I can see that same stupid Eye on her necklace. So if anyone can use magic cheating, it's probably her."

"She's using magic to cheat?" Mokuba gave Setsuna a surprised look. Though he knew that she was probably a bit weird, like her sister, he'd never been told she could tell how magic worked. All she really did was invent weird things.

Setsuna sighed. "Every time anyone draws a card or looks at a cloud or _anything_ up there, this thing goes insane." She held up her useless invention of the night, an electronic mongrel that Seto would probably view with utter disdain. "See? 500 thaums from that-a-way every time something happens. And it doesn't even have to be dramatic."

Setsuna was pointing at Ishizu Ishtar.

"Then what the hell is she doing?" Mokuba demanded, but quiet enough that Yami didn't glare at them again and they didn't catch Malik's attention.

"If I had to guess?" Setsuna said as Seto ran headfirst into yet another ridiculously specific trap and wiped out half his deck. "She's either reading his mind or seeing the future."

That was about when Obelisk himself appeared on Seto's side of the field. The fifty-foot blue golem warrior took up half of the field, staring expressionlessly at the Egyptian woman on the opposite end of the platform. Its forearms were as big as tree trunks and Mokuba was uncomfortably reminded of the creature's signature attack.

After a moment, Setsuna rubbed her ear and said, "When I find who's playing that Latin chanting opera crap, I'm gonna hit him, hard."

"You should get your ears checked." Mokuba said absently, engrossed in the scene on the platform.

Seto had two monsters—his God card and a throwaway monster called Gear Soldier. Ishizu didn't have anything. There was no way he could lose!

Except…Ishizu was eerily calm for a woman who was about to get stomped.

Just when Yami was about to say something, Setsuna caught the tail end of another of Ishizu's Fate and Destiny are Awesome speeches. It was worse than any friendship speech she could have imagined. Even the kind with love and hearts and fluffy things.

Setsuna, who had about as much grasp of common politeness as a fish did of quantum physics or how to ride a bicycle, got mad. It was practically second nature to her by now. She started muttering. Somehow, she managed to keep it to a low growl. "Screw this. Screw all this fate and prophecy and predetermined load of _crap_."

And Seto seemed to get the vibe. The end of the Millennium Rod flashed, flooding the area with yellow light.

There was a lot of drama that Setsuna didn't quite follow. Then, when she got her sight back, she looked up and stared, like everyone else, in awe of the magnificent white beast that stood in place of Kaiba's original monsters. So, apparently he'd sacrificed his _God_ to play a _dragon_.

Eh. He had style.

"Blue Eyes White Dragon, blast her back to the stone-age cave she came from. Burst Stream!"

And when it was all over, Seto was at least still standing. That was a plus. And the smirk was gone from both Ishizu and Malik's faces.

* * *

The various members of Yugi's group of friends were hanging around the cabin later that night, reviewing the evening's duels, when Yugi finally said something about them, having been eerily silent in the back of his and Yami's shared mind.

_That was…_ Yugi began, searching for the proper word to describe his jumbled feelings.

…_Interesting._ Yami supplied mentally. _If nothing else, at least now Malik's splitting his attention between about six different targets._

_Hey!_

_Between you and me, Kaiba, that Sonozaki woman, Jounouchi, Mai, and everyone else, I think Yami Malik will be too busy to figure out who he can actually _kill_. Too many of us are resistant to his magic._ He glanced at Mai, who was leaning against the railing, against Jounouchi's side. _Or possibly immune._

…_did you see Sonozaki-san do anything to Mai?_ Yugi's mind-voice was terribly worried.

Yami sighed. _No, but that doesn't mean she didn't. Given what her sister says about their clan, I wouldn't put it past her to have some way to bypass our senses._

_And Yami Malik's._ Yugi pointed out.

The preceding conversation took place over a time span of approximately two seconds.

"Are you okay?" Yami asked Mai, frowning in concern.

The blonde woman gave a shuddering sigh, rubbing her arms and leaning more into the plush armchair in the lounge. Jou sat nearby, concerned as a mother hen. "…Yeah. I think I'm fine. Other than being targeted by a sociopath with a pain fetish, I guess."

_What is a pain fetish?_ Yami wondered, hearing Yugi choke over their mental link. Oh well. "Are you sure you're feeling all right? Something happened up there…"

Mai shook her head. "I don't know. It's like…everything's more grounded, maybe? It's hard to explain without sounding like a mental patient."

_And to think, we're asking her about _her_ mental health…_ Yugi remarked.

_Shush._ "All limbs intact, then?"

Mai smirked, though her confidence didn't seem to be back yet. "So far so good."

Yami smiled back. "Just hang in until one of us can take Malik out, okay?"

"Sure."

* * *

Several hours later, Seto overheard Setsuna talking to her sister in the cafeteria as he walked past on his way to his airborne office.

"You locked him out of _his own room_?"

Sonozaki replied, "And every other one I could persuade Mouto-san to use a ward on."

"…wow. I have an evil older sister?" Setsuna's face suddenly lit up in a grin. "This is so_ cool_!"

Seto went to find some kind of aspirin.

* * *

Setsuna and Mokuba, in typical preteen fashion, had hijacked the spare computer in Seto's airborne office to watch cartoons. At least Mokuba had finished the transla…tion… Well. That was weird.

Seto stopped, staring at the screen. In the background, there was a whoop as Mokuba and Setsuna watched another humongous mecha blow up in their show.

Mokuba, in even more typical little brother fashion, sat up straight and walked over to Seto, completely unbidden. "Niisama?"

There had to be a perfectly rational explanation. Except he was looking at the original image file for the Winged Dragon of Ra, and he knew the card's text was _not_ in plain hiragana. Otherwise Kujaku was exponentially stupider than Seto had first thought. And yet, despite the text being written in no recognizable script—it was more like a series of pictograms, really—Seto could read it just as easily as he could every major business language of the world.

Setsuna piped up next. "Kaiba? It's just a bunch of doodles, even if it is on a God card…"

"…_Great beast of the sky, please hear my cry, transform yourself from the orb of light, and bring me victory in this fight, envelop the desert with your glow_…" Seto shook himself. Not possible.

Both of the preteens were looking at him, confused. Mokuba said, "Niisama…that wasn't Japanese."

Okay, maybe a bit possible.

"Yay, magic." Setsuna said with a sarcastic twirl of her finger. She yawned. "Mokuba-kun, I'm going to bed."

The Kaiba brothers dismissed her without even really thinking about it. There was too much to think about.

That night, Yami Malik slept in the cafeteria, having worn himself out through thwarted villainy. And Bakura went undisturbed. Apparently, the Spirit of the Ring had decided to play it safe for a while, never mind the annoying Egyptian taking up space in the Item with him.

* * *

The next day was…interesting. It all started with the entire group in the cafeteria. Yami Malik's room had been unlocked so he could finally take a damn shower (or something) and so the rest of them could eat in peace. He was "escorted" there by the older Sonozaki—if anyone else heard them fighting the entire way there, no one commented.

Their collective attempt at trying to do the sane thing, though, ended up not exactly working out.

And then the insanity hit. The airship started falling out of the sky.

Dripping bits of cereal and hamburgers and god only knew what else, the duelists scrambled to the deck—not the dueling one, the one where all the piloting stuff gets done—and met both the Kaiba brothers and the Sonozaki sisters there.

Except Bakura, Ishizu, and Rishid, anyway. They had declined to participate in the mass panic mostly because two were unconscious and the third was apparently playing nursemaid.

The aircraft shook dangerously, throwing most of the crowd off their feet. There was a sharp complaint from Jou ("Can you say 'lawsuit,' Kaiba?") and from Honda ("Oh, I'm fine except for the concussion and the swelling ankle. Jerk.") but otherwise everyone seemed to be fine.

"We are losing altitude pretty slowly for an apparent catastrophic engine failure." Setsuna mumbled, looking over the consoles. She scanned another set of readouts. "It looks just like a controlled landing but we aren't—where the hell did that come from?"

"That" was a landing strip that looked like it had risen out of the empty ocean. Actually, it looked a little like an aircraft carrier crossed with Majora's Mask, if aircraft carriers ever got as big as an entire military base. The entire contraption was apparently made completely out of metal, and Setsuna was fairly sure she could see anti aircraft turrets lining one side. It nearly bristled with guns.

Just then, the computer monitors all blacked out.

"Oh, damn." Setsuna said, because she was obliged to as a snot-nosed brat and brats always like to have the last word.

A face promptly appeared on all of said blanked monitors. It was almost like the universe was trying to out-cliché a James Bond movie.

Now, if Setsuna had to guess, she'd say that the face was uncannily familiar. At the very least, she was seeing a strange resemblance between the green/blue-haired boy on the screen and Seto, but not in looks. They had the same eye structure—well, didn't nearly every shifty-eyed bastard ever?—and even the same eye color, but the boy on the screen was only about twelve or so. And he looked absolutely nothing like Mokuba.

Except for the particular variety of attitude problem, which reminded Setsuna of herself.

"Greetings, duelists." He even _sounded_ like a snot! "I'm in control now." And he even had the patented Kaiba brother smirk! This was turning out to be quite the interesting conundrum.

"Identify yourself." Seto snapped. "_Now_."

"Always barking orders aren't you, Seto?" Again with the Kaiba-signature smirk. "Well, unfortunately for you, I'm calling the shots now. And the first order of business is to put you in your place. Let's start with shutting down your little card games first, shall we?"

Mokuba growled. It was really kind of cute. "You'll never get away with this!"

"But I already have." Setsuna renamed the boy Smug Bastard in her head.

Seto said in a low, cold voice on the edge of patience, "Look, kid, tell me your name."

"There you go again!" Smirking, smirking…Smirking Bastard, then, Setsuna thought. "Well, fine. The name is Noah. And you and I go back a long way, Seto."

"Quit playing games." Seto replied, obviously irritated.

"I'm afraid _my_ games have only just begun, fools." Then Noah's face disappeared—he had apparently signed out.

_Okay, I don't care what anyone says. If you're using the word "fool" and you're not an evil overlord in training, you're trying to sound more mature than you are and are therefore a complete prick. _Setsuna thought.

"Well, that was useless," she ended up saying. "And this little detour is probably gonna suck because that guy is there."

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Houjou." Seto muttered.

"It's my job." Setsuna said brightly. "And while you all go out to confront the green-haired megalomaniac, I'm going to be making some improvised explosives for the rescue mission."

Invisible to almost everyone, Yami facepalmed.

* * *

**A/N:** And that would be the end of chapter seven-start of the Virtual World arc!

Also, thank you especially to **The Layman**, since you're my newest reviewer and reviewed five times in a row in less than a week. And your comments are hilarious.


	8. Red Pill or Blue Pill?

**Chapter Eight: Red Pill or Blue Pill?**

**A/N:** This arc is driving me bonkers.

* * *

Setsuna had elected to stay on the bridge while everyone else went down to confront Noa. Including the non-duelists who didn't work for Kaiba, and her sister. The resident bratty half-pint sat in the pilot's seat, frowning. She'd seen everyone disappear down some hole in the floor, except for Akiko, who had managed to haul herself back onto the ship with some effort. Now the blue-haired woman was just wandering around the metal floor of the cargo bay, apparently at a total loss as to what to do next.

That was why Setsuna had grabbed Isono and walked into the belly of the airship, looking for someone with actual firepower.

She found him. "Hey, psychopath."

Yami Malik, who had previously been gloating rather pointlessly since his audience was gone, stared at her for a moment. Then, "You're related to that _woman_, aren't you?"

"Yes." Setsuna said, because there was no point in lying. "And you're the second psycho I've met on this ship."

Yami Malik glanced at Isono, who froze in place. "Is this your idea of backup? Against me?"

"Nah." Setsuna said. "This is my idea of bait."

Isono, up until that point, had been thinking that at least one of the sisters wasn't creepy. He abruptly changed his mind. He started edging away.

"Anyway, I'm going to the kitchen to make stuff that blows up." Setsuna said, shrugging. "Since they're all duelists, of course all they're going to think of is using cards to get out of whatever jam they're in. But what if they're wrong?"

"And why should I care?" Yami Malik asked. "Why shouldn't I just kill you right here and now, and maybe use your bones to hack your suited friend to death?"

Setsuna suppressed a shudder, going back to her original miko training lectures. "Because I have something you're not going to get unless you leave me unharmed."

"Oh?"

"Information." Setsuna kept her voice steady only by keeping it firmly under her control. "Like how you can get the Pharaoh's power."

"Why can't I just torture it out of you?" Yami Malik was grinning now, watching her the same way a cat watched a cornered mouse.

"Because I am here." Setsuna jumped—her sister stood where Isono had been a moment before, one pale hand on Setsuna's shoulder. Akiko's scarlet eyes narrowed. "There will be a brief truce between us, Ishtar-san. We will destroy the enemy together."

Yami Malik's eyes became narrower still. "My enemy is the Pharaoh, not some upstart with a grudge against Kaiba."

"That may be," Akiko told him, "but that upstart is keeping you from facing him in the duel that will decide who keeps the power of the Puzzle. If the Pharaoh dies, his power dies with him."

"I _see_." Yami Malik gritted his teeth. "Is that so? Then we'll just have to teach this little runt some manners, won't we?"

"Ideally so." Akiko murmured.

Setsuna decided to speak up. "I think he has robotic guards. Otherwise I don't think falling through the floor is really going to help the Big Five's goal to steal everyone's bodies any. They'd all just end up dead."

"Hm…" Yami Malik said. He was smiling evilly again. It threatened to split his head in half. "Perhaps, woman, I can enjoy a friendly competition. We'll see who can amass the largest number of slain foot soldiers in the time it takes for the Pharaoh to come back and face me."

"While I wouldn't put it that way, I will agree for now. Truce?" Akiko asked quietly.

"Truce. For now." Yami Malik agreed.

Neither one of the older pair was stupid enough to shake hands on it. One of them wouldn't be getting that limb back and both of them knew the other knew it.

Setsuna gave a firm nod. "That's settled, then. Let's go." _Maybe it's for the best that I don't tell them that I'm planning on being the real bait if it comes down to it_.

* * *

"Kuri! Kuri!" Kuriboh was out and about, much to Yami's shock. He'd been about two seconds from choosing the Black Magician as his Deckmaster when the brown puffball had decided that he apparently wasn't moving fast enough and taking matters into its own paws. _Gah_. Sometimes it sucked to have a deck with a mind of its own.

"Nice Deckmaster," sneered his opponent, Oshita. If the man hadn't looked so ridiculous as the Deepsea Warrior, Yami might have actually taken the unspoken threat seriously.

"Hold on, I didn't choose—" Well, it didn't look like that was going to matter to the disembodied executive. Even Kuriboh was looking at him reproachfully.

"The rules state that once a Deckmaster is chosen, it stays chosen." Gansley replied haughtily. "And that means you're stuck with the puffball."

"Kuri!" the little monster growled, waving his green clawed hands menacingly, or as menacingly as a brown ball of fur could really pull off. It growled, but that also came out sounding cute.

Yami sighed as Kuriboh rubbed up against his cheek affectionately. _Better make the best of it, then._ Gently rubbing the fiend's fur, Yami said quietly, "I might not have chosen you, but we're going to win together now. Ready to go, partner?"

"Kuri!" Kuriboh squealed excitedly, bouncing around in midair.

"Well then, let's duel." Yami smirked, and both duelists deployed their Duel Disks.

* * *

The day was practically designed to get worse. In fact, given that they were in a virtual reality simulation at the moment, it was also literally designed to kill them. Probably.

The Kaiba brothers, for their part, were walking through a strangely scenic part of the virtual world, wondering what could possibly descend from the false sky and smash them like the hand of God.

Or at least, Mokuba was. Seto was stalking slightly ahead of him, irritated with the entire situation. For his part, Mokuba was just staring up at the scenery, wondering how it all worked. It was obviously a virtual reality simulation, but now Mokuba wanted to know how they'd gotten into it.

On Seto's end, there was less of a sense of wonder and more a sense of disbelieving irritation. There was no way a brat like Noah should have been able to create a virtual reality simulation so strong it mimicked all five of the senses. Seto had spent over a year on his own version, and it was really only a short role playing game. This was like a free-roaming universe.

Both Kaibas stopped when a door appeared in midair, directly in their path.

Mokuba opened it.

Seto and Mokuba stared into their long-suppressed past for a moment, wondering what the hell anyone expected them to do about it, before Mokuba walked in. It was less a door and more a portal, and that portal led to their once-home orphanage. It had been six years since the last time they'd set eyes on this dump. And Seto hated every minute of it.

* * *

Meanwhile, Anzu was having problems of her own. Most of those problems involved running. These could be summed up as shortness of breath, fatigue, her new shoes digging into her feet, running out of places to run _to_…well, her day wasn't going great so far.

"Raaargh!" And it didn't help that she was being chased by Cyclopes. It was getting old, quickly. Heck, waking up in the Cyclopes den, with stew that would have included her as the main ingredient boiling on the fire, had just been a bad start to a bad day. It was just going to get worse. Murphy's Law demanded it.

"I hate this game!" Anzu shrieked at the sky, feeling adrenaline speed her along even as her body was protesting.

Of course, no one who cared seemed to hear her. Except for the giants, of course, who seemed to be moving faster all of a sudden.

That was about when she reached a bridge. It just so happened to be a rope bridge.

She sighed. _This is just not my day._

Maybe that was why, the next thing Anzu knew, she was standing in a frozen wasteland with a talking penguin for company. "Oh, damn."

* * *

And here comes the Domino Wrecking Crew now.

_BOOM._

"There was a door. Wasn't there a door, Akiko-oneesama?" Setsuna asked sarcastically, stepping into the newest revealed room, not even caring about the bits of semi-molten metal Yami Malik's last blast had left everywhere.

"Shut up, little girl." Yami Malik replied, barely paying attention. He slashed the Rod down again and another security robot blew up. "You wanted to spend three hours cracking the last security code like last time?"

"Still, you didn't have to _blow it up_."

Akiko, meanwhile, had been using more offensive magic than Setsuna had ever seen outside of this entire stupid tournament (and therefore the Items and their wielders). "_Venus Love-Me Chain!_" Little golden chain links, made of energy and shaped like hearts, slashed through three robots in one strike.

"Are you serious? 'Venus Love-Me Chain'?" Yami Malik repeated with a grin, almost in hysterics. "You are a _riot_." He was nearly decked by one of the security robots, but another slash of the shoujo anime chain took care of that one. It sliced the machine apart so quickly and cleanly that there was only a red-hot line of molten metal that marked its passage.

Setsuna, meanwhile, scrambled over the cooling robot bits (silently grieving for each fallen machine) and into the dark depths of the command center. There were computer monitors everywhere, though most of them were off and the main one was just a blank slate of blue. _Well, since most power strips are under the computer they were attached to…_ She pulled a keychain out of her pocket and turned on the miniature flashlight attached to it. "Power button, oh power button, where are you~?"

She found the switch under the desk after much searching and flipped it. The lights came on with only minimal flickering, much to Yami Malik's disappointment. Then the other monitors began to flicker to life.

"Okay, I should be able to figure out what the hell's going on from here." Setsuna said. She turned back to her two impromptu body guards and said, "There's no way there were only twenty robots around here. Think you can take them apart?"

Yami Malik snorted. "Why shouldn't I just blow a hole in the circuitry and blow up the entire island? It's not like there's anything _important_ here." And he wouldn't have cared all that much if there was. Still, he left, cackling to himself.

Before Akiko left the control room, though, Setsuna stopped her with a snap of her fingers (even though it was rude). She waved to a nearby wall, where there were a series of opaque pods that, to Akiko, looked strangely familiar.

"Virtual reality pods?" Akiko murmured, running a hand over one of the shells. Following the warmth of her fingers, the screens of the pod became perfectly transparent.

Jounouchi Katsuya. Setsuna frowned as her sister tapped all of the pods in turn.

Kawai Shizuka.

Otogi Ryuji.

Hiroto Honda.

Mutou Yugi.

Mazaki Anzu.

Kujaku Mai.

Kaiba Seto.

Kaiba Mokuba. There, her sister stopped.

"I don't think opening them now would actually help." Setsuna said, turning back to the keyboard.

"It would not." Akiko replied, though she didn't join her younger sister at the main computer for a while. "Kaiba Corporation has produced a similar technology in the past."

"Is that so?" Setsuna mumbled, typing rapidly. She actually didn't know what she was doing, but sometimes it was a good idea to force a computer to its error screen to figure out what was going on. She had never been much of an electronics expert, but she knew that much.

Akiko said nothing for a while. Then, "You seem tired, Setsuna-kun."

"I am." Setsuna muttered. _I can't have this conversation now._ Fortunately, circumstance and Murphy's Law chose that moment to intervene. No sooner had Setsuna finished her thought than Noa's face appeared on the screen.

"Intruders? Who in the world are you?" Noa demanded, glaring down at them with utter disdain crossed with disbelief. "How did you get in here?"

Setsuna stared back. Even magnified a few dozen times, Noa wasn't any more intimidating than Setsuna had thought a fellow middle-schooler could be. For a certain allotment of annoying, he was a pest, but he wasn't much more than that. He was almost as annoying as she was, but for a different value thereof. "Better question: who the hell are you? Because you look like Kaiba with green hair, and that's just freaky."

Noa growled. "My full name, in the western order, is Noa Kaiba. I'm the _real_ son of Gozaburo."

Setsuna was drawing a total blank. "Eh?"

"Kaiba Gozaburo—previous CEO of Kaiba Corporation before Kaiba Seto took the position." Akiko said in a strangely detached voice. "Alleged to have committed suicide three years ago by throwing himself out of the CEO office window."

Setsuna actually shut her mouth for once and just listened.

"He didn't commit suicide." Noa said bitterly. "Not like that."

"Nevertheless." Akiko said. "The particular circumstances of Kaiba Gozaburo's death were not facts I was told to research. I was also unaware that Kaiba Gozaburo had a son, so thank you for providing additional information." She subsided, blinking blankly.

_...Is she a robot too?_ Setsuna wondered.

"…Er, yes," said Noa, apparently as confused as Setsuna felt. _So he does have a human side._ He rallied quickly. "Um… Hey, you never told me how you got in here!"

Setsuna jerked a thumb back at the remains of the door. "Lasers."

"My _door_!" Noa's eyes widened comically.

Setsuna giggled. "Well, I asked the group psychopath and my big sister to hack through your robot drones so we could figure out where our gaggle of idiots got off to. So, here we are." She frowned. "Anyway, where are you?"

"I-I'm not telling you, so there!" Noa managed, still apparently trying to recover from the assault of randomized information.

"'So there'?" Setsuna repeated, trying to puzzle him out. "Man, how old are _you_? Mokuba-kun has a bigger list of comebacks than that!"

"Shut up!" Noa snapped. He was clutching his head. "I don't have to listen to you!"

…_oooookay then._ An idea suddenly popped into Setsuna's head and she had to voice it. Even if it was a bad idea, it was at least something. "Noa, want to make a deal?"

"Huh?" Noa looked up, all Kaiba-level scheming and opportunistic tendencies again. Maybe not entirely, but at least he hadn't gone all "Blue Screen of Death" on her yet. "A deal? With you?"

"Yeah. A deal. A game, if you wanna look at it that way." Setsuna crossed one leg over the other and balanced her elbows on it, clasping her hands below her chin. She peered up at him through her fringe of pale green hair. "You don't have to play, except you're never going to get out otherwise."

Noa glared down at her, but blue eyes just weren't made for glaring like red ones. "Oh?"

"'Cause if you don't play with me, Akiko-oneesama here will just cut her losses and destroy the entire computer complex." Setsuna smiled evilly, like she'd seen Yami Malik do constantly since his appearance. "And no more virtual playground for you."

Setsuna wondered if Noa knew she was lying. She'd seen Akiko over the last few days—her sister was really more attached to the Kaibas than she was to her own baby sister. It hurt a bit to admit it, but when Akiko squeezed her shoulder for some kind of confirmation, Setsuna leaned into her touch just enough that Noa wouldn't notice. She didn't really want anyone to die. But she did want Noa to bend on his policy.

Luckily, she seemed to have hit a sore spot. Noa actually winced.

Still, his voice didn't shake when he said, "Fine. What's your game?"

"A bit of an RPG, really." Setsuna murmured. She reached into her belt pouch and held up her treasured Machine deck. "Is everyone in your dream world dueling?"

"That's right." Noa bit out, giving her a death glare she refused to acknowledge. In the distance, Yami Malik could be heard cackling and destroying everything he could get his hands on.

"Good. I'll join in, but not as a player." Setsuna said. "None of your thugs can touch me, and I'll leave them alone. Only you or I can manipulate the game world, and we're both trying to outsmart the other. Only you've probably had years more practice. The only difference is that I can pull the plug on everyone here anytime I want. What do you say, Noa-chan?"

Apparently, the signature Houjou creepiness aura could be felt through computer monitors. "And what makes you think I won't just throw Lector or one of the other members of the Big Five at you?" Still, he was compromising. Baby steps.

Setsuna gave him her sweetest smile. It promised pain. "Because Akiko-oneesama is staying right here. Do anything wrong and she _breaks_ things."

"Fine. Show me your deck." Noa hissed, tossing his head not unlike a flustered horse. At the same moment, part of the computer console flipped over and revealed the standard thirteen-slot Duel Monsters playing field.

"We'll work with one avatar each." Setsuna said quietly. "It has to be normal monster, with four stars or fewer. No magic or trap cards allowed, aside from Field Cards."

"You draw first." Noa insisted, holding up a virtual hand so Setsuna and Akiko could see it.

"What a gentleman." Setsuna said sarcastically. "Anyway, my monster is the Giga-Tech Wolf." She placed it face-up in the attack position.

"And mine is Aeris." Noa's blue eyes narrowed. "We'll see what you can do, little girl."

_It's so much nicer when they think they're still in control._ Setsuna shot her sister a look. _Back me up, neesama. I might need to borrow your deck._

_

* * *

_

Mai and Jounouchi woke up in the same place, oddly enough. In the typical habits of adventurers everywhere, they promptly wandered off in the building they'd woken up in, looking for their friends and shouting a lot.

Maybe that was why the first thing they met on their path was a trap. Just peeking inside the stupid courtroom had been a mistake on their parts, because, the next thing they knew, they were dueling a Judge Man that talked.

They steamrolled him with Harpy's Pet Dragon and Thousand Dragon after about five minutes, even though he was screaming about legalities and Noa the whole time.

* * *

The body of the Giga-Tech Wolf, stiff and clanking every time it moved, was entirely too ungainly for what Setsuna had in mind. Nonetheless, she picked up the proffered console controller and brought her trigger finger down on the Dash button. The robot exploded into motion, surging across the plains at a dead run.

She grinned. _Much_ better than walking. It was like _Zoids_ all over again.

"You're having fun." Noa said disapprovingly. He frowned at her, willing his own soldier into a steady trot from his starting place.

"That's what life's about." Setsuna replied happily. "Everyone I know needs to loosen up, you know?"

"Except for the psycho?" Noa remarked, smirking

"Except for the psycho." Setsuna agreed.

"I don't understand you." Noa said after a moment. "You want to play a game with the one who took all of your friends and stuck their minds in a virtual reality game, who has the goal of using one of them to escape. You have no problem working with the self-admitted psychopath on your own airship, and as far as I can tell you only like _her_." He indicated Akiko, who stood next to the door some distance away. "You don't act like any of the psychological profiles I've researched. What's wrong with you?"

"I have absolutely no idea!" Setsuna said, steering her wolf into a building that looked like it was made of nothing but machine parts. "Anyway, I suppose you could say I'm detached from reality a bit. Maybe a lot." She shrugged. "And even considering the technology involved in this outing, I'm perfectly confident that they'll all get out okay."

Noa blinked. Then, predictably enough, he got angry. "That's not funny! I have complete control over this virtual world—I am its god! There's no way a bunch of idiots and traitors would ever escape here. They'd have to beat me first."

"I think they will, Noa-chan." Setsuna replied. She put down the controller and laced her fingers together behind her head, leaning back in the chair. "I don't know them that well—I only even met Akiko-oneesama yesterday. It's the same with everyone else. But I still don't think they'll lose to the guys you hired."

"We'll see about that." Noa snapped. He turned away and his image on the screen vanished.

"And remember, Noa-chan, no one's allowed to cheat!" Setsuna shouted at the blank screen anyway. "Tch…if he doesn't want to play anymore, does that mean I get to mess with him, too?"

"I wouldn't know." Akiko responded mildly.

Setsuna shrugged to herself and drew more cards from her deck. "Well, if he doesn't want to play nice… I'll summon Cyber Falcon to the field. Let's see what our eye in the sky can see."

* * *

Otogi and Honda had started out in the most utterly bland building either of them had ever seen.

And then they'd gotten out, since Honda had lost patience with the entire concept of a fundamentally unchanging hallway and smashed the wall with a crowbar.

And that had somehow gotten outside. Otogi was too irritated to bother wondering how the hell that worked. Somehow, they were outside, on a castle battlement, and had absolutely no safe way to the ground.

And then they'd heard a high-pitched scream from down below.

"_Shizuka_!"

* * *

It was probably the first time Mokuba had ever seen a monster—an honest-to-god _monster_—crash into the side of a building and smash into the ground right afterward. It was like watching a kite hit a tree, only a lot more violent and actually kind of funny rather than just sad. And it was a clanking kind of sound rather than a _fwip_, though the scream of the jet engines made it even odder.

Still, the monster hadn't exploded into ten million shards of light, so it obviously wasn't defeated yet. The creature was a gigantic metal bird, but not like Mokuba had expected. It was really more like a falcon, scaled up to the size of a helicopter and made entirely of polished steel or chrome, with jet engines on the undersides of its winds. The beast staggered around stupidly before it settled down on the grass, shaking its head.

"Cyber Falcon." Seto said irritably, pushing Mokuba behind him. "1400 attack points, 1200 defense points." He was already shuffling his deck quickly in one hand, and Mokuba knew the big metal bird wasn't going to be wandering around like a dazed turkey for much longer.

Its head turned and the red LED lights that were its eyes seemed to focus. Then, apparently using a sound system Mokuba wasn't aware the bird had, it said, "Mokuba-kun!"

Mokuba couldn't help it. He gaped. "Setsuna?"

"In the flesh!" Setsuna's voice said brightly as the mechanical bird got back to its feet. "More or less, anyway."

"Did you lose your actual body to one of those goons?" Seto asked coldly, looking over the monster critically.

"Geez. What do you take me for, Kaiba, an idiot?" Setsuna huffed, while the bird stalked around in place. "I was still on the airship when you guys all got kidnapped. Akiko-oneesama's driving herself crazy with worry at this point."

"I have a hard time imagining that." Mokuba said, scratching his head awkwardly.

"Yeah, well, so do I sometimes." Setsuna mumbled. "You've known her longer than I have anyway." The bird's head bobbed up and down.

"So, Houjou, what's your excuse for popping up now?" Seto demanded.

"Found Noa-chan's command center." Setsuna said. Seto blinked. "Me, Akiko-oneesama, and Yami Malik-tan fought our way through the robot droids and now I'm playing a game with Noa-chan. The only rules are to not get yourself killed, make things harder for the other side, and avoid actually killing anyone."

"Considering that you seem to be occupying the body of one of the weakest Machine-type monsters in the entire game, I'm surprised you're so confident." Seto remarked.

"Eh?" The Cyber Falcon bobbed back and forth. "I'm not actually a monster. Heck, I'm not even in the virtual simulation! I'm sitting in the command center computer chair, summoning monsters and magic just to piss Noa-chan off."

Mokuba frowned. "But are you _sure_?"

Setsuna's monster clucked irritably. "Of course I am! All of your comatose bodies are in the pods sitting in this room, and anyway, real magic doesn't work in a simulation!"

Mokuba blinked at her vehemence. "Um, okay then…"

Seto walked right up to the Cyber Falcon and said, "Houjou, is this thing fully under your control?"

"Is the Blue Eyes under yours?" Setsuna asked dryly. "It's fine—I've driven this rust bucket nearly everywhere already—but I don't know if it's solid enough to transport you two anywhere."

Seto reached out and grabbed the huge beast's beak, pulling it down to his eye level as Setsuna sputtered over the intercom.

"It'll do. Come on, Mokuba."

"Okay, niisama!"

And then both of them were on the Cyber Falcon's back, and they were flying, with Setsuna's voice squawking irritably at them until Seto detached the voice box.

* * *

The penguin actually ended up falling pretty easily once Anzu managed to get her Black Magician Girl Deckmaster's ability working—most things in the game didn't stand up to the combined might of the Black Magician Girl and the Black Magician himself.

Granted, though, Anzu's main problem throughout the duel had been the fact that she was nearly a total rookie. In fact, out of all of their friends, the only ones who could be worse were Shizuka (who wouldn't have ever played, being mostly blind for a good chunk of her life so far) and Honda (who was just really bad).

Still, she'd gotten through it with a little help from Yugi's deck and Black Magician Girl's intelligence, which she really figured was about all she could ask for.

And now they were traveling together, off in search of their friends.

"Yugi, I think we should start there." Anzu said suddenly, pointing at a seemingly faraway factory.

Yugi blinked. "Why?"

Something flew screaming by, overhead. If Anzu paid close attention, she could almost see Kaiba's distinctive white trench coat in the silvery blur. Below, the factory seemed to shudder and Anzu could see a silver, metallic wolf smashing into the walls.

Anzu said. "Because if that's where the mayhem is, that's where our friends are. It's just the way things work."

Yugi, who had never thought of it that way, actually winced.

_She has an excellent point, you know._ Yami piped up unnecessarily.

Yugi sighed. _Other me, just please be quiet for once. I think I'm getting a headache._

The metal wolf turned and spotted them. It immediately broke into a run, right for them.

They might have been scared, if the creature hadn't been blaring sounds that, with a little bit of imagination, might have been Houjou Setsuna's voice, grating as it was.

It turned out that they were right, and Setsuna was furious about something.

_I think you're going to get a headache with or without my help._ Yami said, amused. Yugi groaned mentally and gave up on shutting the spirit out. It wouldn't work anyway. Sometimes it really sucked to have an ancient Egyptian spirit stuck in his head.

And if he had ever voiced that thought, Bakura would have teleported out of nowhere, decked him, and gone back to his corner of gloom and doom. Having a psycho in your head is _still_ worse than a snarky, somewhat inconsiderate best friend.

Even if the talking Giga-Tech Wolf was making things worse.

* * *

So, Honda had been brainwashed. Or possessed. It was hard to tell, given how reality was so subjective in the virtual world. Seto might not have cared about that a whole lot, were it not for the fact that said possessed idiot had proceeded to kidnap Mokuba and now Seto was angry enough to contemplate mass murder. It didn't happen often, but when a Kaiba got angry the world had learned to stay the hell out of his way.

And now, it was time to find a ride. Houjou's Cyber Falcon would work just fine, assuming the girl was smart enough to know that Seto wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Houjou." Seto growled as the Cyber Falcon painstakingly placed itself in the exact center of the tunnel.

A moment later, and the creature's jet engines were already warming up. "Ready, Kaiba. Mount up."

Seto grabbed one of the creature's sleek metal leg and hooked an arm over its neck and ducked when it beat its wings, once, for a bit of lift. Then the engines kicked in and they were off like a shot.

About twenty seconds later, Ota, using Honda's body, was wondering why the hell he was fifty feet in the air and climbing. He was still holding Mokuba, yes, but his motorcycle was gone. He made the mistake of looking up just as Seto—who had long since exhausted any and all patience he had with the virtual reality simulation in the first place—grabbed Mokuba and slammed his foot into the side of Ota's/Honda's face.

It was a long, terrifying way down to the water.

Or it would have been, if the Cyber Falcon hadn't snatched his jacket with one set of talons and carried him safely to the nearby bridge. The mechanical bird then proceeded to pin him to it like an insect, while the Kaibas got off the metal bird and Seto contemplated killing the man. Mokuba stirred in his older brother's arms, completely disoriented.

"Ota-kun," said the Cyber Falcon, staring down at him with fathomless red eyes. It was even one of his own precious Machine-type monsters, turned against him! "Ota-kun…I do not approve. Errors in judgment and logic must be…corrected." The bird opened its beak. "Houjou-style."

_What the—?_ Ota managed to think.

Then, to Ota's complete and utter shock, the bird vanished, as did the weight on his chest. He forced his stolen body to scramble to its feet, and found himself staring down the entire group of potential hosts that he and his partners had hoped to gain.

"Tribute summoning…" said no one in particular. Seto even backed up a little at the sound of that disembodied voice, but only because he apparently knew what was coming next. "I sacrifice Cyber Falcon and Giga-Tech Wolf to summon Barrel Dragon in attack mode, Noa-chan!"

"Cheater!" screamed the disembodied voice of his master, Noa.

"Am not! You cheated first, letting this guy get a hold of Honda's body!" the other voice screeched back.

Nonetheless, Ota found himself staring down the massive, glowing arm and head armaments of the infamous Gun Dragon card, wondering why the hell he'd ever bothered to get out of bed in his entire life.

* * *

So, there was a fight with Daimon to worry about.

For about six seconds.

No, Seto wasn't feeling generous. Possibly even less so after the Blue Eyes White Dragon Burst Stream'd Daimon to death. He slaughtered the Jinzo-embodied corporate slimeball in less than three turns. Or maybe he just had Setsuna's Barrel Dragon launch its fellow Machine-type monster (even if it looked more like Hannibal Lector and was probably really an android) out to sea and drop it into the virtual ocean, so physics could do the rest of the work.

Whichever way it actually happened, it was over in a flash and then, quite suddenly, the only opponent left was Ota. And Ota was about three seconds from also being righteously curbstomped before Mokuba managed to get Seto to stop.

* * *

The dragon-shaped artillery piece that was Setsuna's Barrel Dragon clanked ominously before settling down on its belly. The cannons themselves began to power down as Mokuba watched.

"So, now what?" Setsuna's voice asked from the creature's as-yet undiscovered loudspeakers.

Mokuba looked around at the group. Jou, Mai, Honda (in robot monkey form), Otogi, and Shizuka were all clustered close together, apparently waiting for something to happen and seeking out some kind of security. Anzu and Yugi were talking to Seto about something—probably about his conduct or something equally stupid—and Mokuba sat on the forward left turret belonging to the metal monster, sighing.

Seto, for his part, was nearly radiating protective rage the same way the other Yugi did sometimes, while Anzu was nearly incandescent with the suppressed urge to slap him silly. The other Yugi looked back and forth between the two, clearly giving off the impression of "oh god why did I ever want to work with you idiots" as his thought process. Sure, he was obviously more concerned about Anzu than Seto, but anyone could see that the split personality/walking attitude adjustment and adjuster didn't like the idea of being a referee between them.

"I guess we have to wait for Noa to show up or something." Mokuba said. He spared a glance for the bound form of the Ota-possessed Honda, since they hadn't managed to figure out what the hell to do with him yet. Seto had been all for drowning him—something about cement shoes?—while the rest of Yugi's gang was solidly against it. In their case, the word "exorcism" came up a few times.

"I don't think Akiko-oneesama actually knows any exorcism chants." Setsuna remarked, and the Barrel Dragon's huge laser cannon of a head turned to the bound Ota as well.

Ota, for his part, flinched.

"I hope he hurries up." Setsuna said, sighing. "I'm getting tired of looking at nothing but a computer screen. And seeing past the Barrel Dragon's main cannon is a bit of a hassle. I don't think this thing has eyes."

"It doesn't." Mokuba said idly as the head swung back.

Setsuna huffed. "Should have stuck to the bird…"

"Yup." Mokuba replied, absolutely not paying attention anymore. He looked up. "Setsuna?"

"Yeah?" she said.

"I think we broke the sky. It's raining fire and I think it's getting a little hot down here." They both looked down. The ground had been replaced by virtual lava. In the distance, they could hear their friends shrieking and Seto snarling in rage. _This_ had been a bit of a shock.

The Barrel Dragon stood up and Mokuba climbed onto its main forehead cannon. Together, the boy and his pet Gun Dragon stomped arduously through the fake lava toward the closest thing they had to "high ground"—the little cliff that stood nearby.

"I hate this game." Mokuba grumbled. "Next time Seto holds a tournament, I'm telling him we can damn well hold it in Domino.

"You and me both, kid." Setsuna's voice echoed from somewhere in the depths of the Barrel Dragon's body.

"I'm not a kid!"

* * *

Noa. As far as the extended group of duelists and corporation executives were all concerned, he was the closest thing the virtual world had to a petty, angry capital-G God.

That said, not one of them thought of him that way.

The Big Five thought of Noa as an employer crossed with a general—wherever he went, whatever he ordered, they would follow on pain of misery or death. He owned the virtual world they had crawled into, ever since the debacle with the Legendary Heroes game. After the original Five-God Dragon had been destroyed, their minds had been lost to the depths of cyberspace until Noa had found them. If they could work for him—help him possess is adopted brother's body, really—then they would be allowed to have bodies of their own. They'd be free of the virtual nightmare. But if they failed, he had no problem with tossing them into the wilds and never looking back.

So, to them, he was both savior and tyrant.

To Yugi and his closest friends, Noa was just yet another aspiring villain they had to defeat. Just another Pegasus, another Malik—same old, same old. Yugi had had to deal with the possibility of losing his soul in a card game before. Yami had almost lost his saner counterpart entirely. Jou, Honda, and Anzu had seen Pegasus at his worst before, and Honda had fought the Spirit of the Ring on his own and won despite the risks. Mai had faced down Malik and survived through the help of her friends and a crazy wannabe-exorcist/ninja. None of them were afraid anymore, not really.

To them, Noa was just another threat.

To the Kaibas, Noa was a relic of a past they had long tried to bury. He was the legitimate, if dead, son of a man they both had hated (even if he was their legal guardian while he was alive), who had been gone before they ever could have met him. A car accident had taken Noa. A brutal, bone-shattering fall had taken Gozaburo. Together, the two full-blooded Kaibas were something that the adopted ones viewed with a certain level of mixed disdain, dread, and hate. That would never change.

For the adopted Kaibas, Noa was another obstacle in their way to freedom and glory.

To the Sonozakis (or rather, one Sonozaki and one Houjou), Noa was a mystery. He was there, certainly, and had to have existed in the world of the living at some point, but he was not something either sister had ever troubled themselves to think about. Akiko viewed him as a threat to her prime directive—protect Mokuba—and was trying to figure out how to give him the thrashing he so richly deserved. Setsuna saw Noa as a broken little kid with disproportionate powers, given his personality. She didn't actually think of him as an enemy so much as she thought of him as a target for teasing and jokes.

For the Sonozaki sisters, Noa was also an obstacle, but only to their priorities. He wasn't a threat to their personal safety by a long shot.

And then the four-way duel between Noa, the Big Five-possessed Honda, the other Yugi, and Seto began. The assumptions were promptly thrown out the window.

* * *

"I _knew_ he was a cheater!" Setsuna snarled at the screen, where Yami and Seto were dueling—flailing, really—against Noa. The Big Five's impression of the Voice of the Legion had been tossed after about four rounds, since apparently Seto thought vaporizing them was the best way to get keep the Five-God Dragon off the field (and it worked!), but now Noa was dominating them both.

"The use of Spirit monsters does not qualify as cheating in the game of Duel Monsters." Akiko said in a monotone. They both watched as Noa basically said, 'Haha, no,' to the effect of Seto's latest trap card. "Though that might." Akiko added.

Setsuna grumbled. "And Barrel Dragon can't help since it's already trying to keep Mokuba safe…" She picked up her deck again. She shuffled it. "Hey, Polymerization! I think this will be—oh hell."

Because, at that exact moment, two things had happened.

One—Yami Malik was back all of a sudden and had started to throw down with Akiko.

Two—Noa had successfully turned everyone but Yami to stone.

"Oh _hell_." Setsuna said, covering her face with her hands.

* * *

**A/N:** I really, _really_ want to be done with this entire Battle City arc now.


	9. Free At Last!

**Chapter Nine: We're Free, We're Free…Dangit!**

**A/N:** I hate this arc and pretty much everyone in it.

_

* * *

_

_When I get my hands on him, I'm going to kill him._ Yami said in a deceptively calm mental voice. It said something about Yugi's current state of mind that he didn't argue with the spirit, who was about two seconds from going completely feral on Noa.

_And I'm not going to do it slowly, oh no…_ Yami continued on in that vein for some time, hissing threats that descended into ancient Egyptian obscenities until, eventually, Yugi snapped back to attention.

_They're not dead, other me!_ Yugi shouted at him, and if he could have punched the spirit he would have. _Noa only turned them to stone so we'd give up—it's just like one of Bakura's penalty games! If we win, we can still turn them back. That's how all shadow games work._

Yami turned his scarlet eyes to meet Noa's. He knew righteous rage—hell, he'd _been_ righteous rage—but what was bubbling in his chest was just pure wrath. Fury and despair were warring inside his head. If he didn't want to kill Noa outright—oh, but he did, he _did_!—he'd have to rely on Yugi for his calming influence. Otherwise he was just champing at the bit and sooner or later all maniacs cause damage.

_Other me, if you turn into Yami Malik, I'm going to hit you sooner or later._ Yugi said abruptly.

Yami stopped, instantly ashamed of himself. _Especially_ after Duelist Kingdom, he was supposed to know better than that! _I…thank you. Sorry about that._

_Don't let it happen again, okay?_ Yugi mumbled. He sounded equally embarrassed. _Anyway, let's focus on taking out Noa now, before he can cause any more damage._

Surveying the statues of his friends, Yami suppressed another wave of despair. Mokuba and Seto, both turned to stone within inches of each other. Jou and Mai and Shizuka, standing so close together but eternally apart if Noa won. It was the same for Anzu, and Otogi, and the tiny robot form of Honda. They were all depending on him.

"Aaaargh!"

Oddly enough, Setsuna's Barrel Dragon had been left untouched so far. It still looked like a perfectly viable monster, but it had long since stopped moving and had started broadcasting strange noises.

Then, "Up yours, asshole!"

Well, that had been less than subtle.

"Okay, to whoever's still paying attention out there," began Setsuna's voice shakily, "Malik-chan just got back into the room. Holy—watch where you're—hey! _Don't touch him!_" At this last sentence, her voice rose into a shriek.

There was a bit of the mad laughter that was Malik's signature, right before the sound of someone bouncing off of multiple hard surfaces.

After a moment, "Akiko-oneesama got him." Setsuna drew a shuddering breath. "Holy hell, that was close. He almost got to the pods…"

To Yami's surprise, even Noa looked edgy at that.

The Barrel Dragon tilted its forehead cannon upward to aim directly at Noa. "Okay, group psycho down. Mutou, Noa-chan has to go down _now_ if we're going to all get out of here alive."

_What did Yami Malik do?_ Yugi demanded silently.

"Shut up!" Noa snarled, and a bolt of lightning lanced down from the sky. It smashed into the Gun Dragon like the hammer of an angry god.

When Yami got his vision back, the Barrel Dragon was crumbling into little shards of stone.

_There goes our annoying pixie advisor._ Yami remarked silently, feeling some of his old humor come back. His sense of humor (or what was left of it) would also be an effective restraint on his temper. He didn't feel like he'd murder Noa in cold blood anymore, at least.

_She'll be fine. Sonozaki's still out there._ Yugi reminded him. _Back to Noa. We can still save everyone here if we win._

_Okay._ Yami look a deep breath. "Let's get back to the game, Noa."

* * *

"So, you're Noa-chan," the annoying green-haired girl said flatly. "I'm Houjou Setsuna."

"Er…yeah. Okay?"

"But you're hijacking Mokuba-kun, which means I have every right to be mad at you." Setsuna went on, still with her blood-red eyes trained on him.

"That's about the size of it." Noa said, sweating slightly. The older of the Sonozaki sisters—Akiko, he remembered—was holding a golden knife between his eyes. Noa didn't dare move, though he wondered where she'd gotten it from.

Setsuna facepalmed. "For the love of all things fluffy and cute, _what convinced you this was a good idea_?"

Noa did actually have an entire list of reasons for not wanting to be anywhere in the virtual world anymore, most of which eventually boiled down to "Gozaburo's in there and I'm _terrified_ of him," and variations of "holy crap everyone in there wants my head on a pike." And besides that, there was no way he could deny the fact that being alive again—a living, breathing human rather than some kind of virtual ghost—was the best thing he'd felt in years. Or it would have been, had it not for the nagging, gnawing feeling in his stomach he was sure wasn't hunger.

"Noa-chan, I don't think your cronies quite got it." Setsuna said, leaning back on the console. "There was no way that they'd be able to live freely in stolen bodies."

Noa said nothing.

"Think about it." Setsuna went on, frowning. "Oshita as Yugi? That wouldn't go over well—he's pretty much internationally famous, but he doesn't have any actual political or financial weight. Oshita would go insane, and besides, it's not like Yugi lives like the Kaiba family has." She frowned. "Mutou-ojiisan would notice pretty much instantly. He practically raised him. And even without that, Yugi kind of has a split personality."

_Yeah_. That was something Noa had definitely noticed while trying to possess him.

"Except with more extreme reactions." Setsuna added.

Noa had _also_ caught the wave of unending fury in the backlash from the aforementioned possessing attempt. He had no desire to see or feel that ever again.

"In fact, the only one that really would make a good candidate was Kaiba." Setsuna said after a while. "With his reputation, money, and political power, any of the Big Five could have made a killing."

"I know." Noa muttered. _But that's not the reason I went after him in the first place. I…I hated him, for taking my father away. I hated them both for treating me like a memory or a ghost, even though I was still slightly alive._

"What are you afraid of?" Setsuna asked softly.

_Everything._ Noa thought with a jolt. _I've been dead for years. Everything's different now. I don't know enough about the way things work even to _live_._

"_I don't want to hurt him that much, Seto. I won't let you start killing anyone now."_ Mokuba had said that, staring down his older brother's wrath in defense of Ota-in-Honda's –body. _"Not for him."_

"_Why not start with him?"_ Seto had said, fully in the grip of hate and rage.

"_Because it won't _stop_ there."_

"…Mokuba's a good kid, isn't he?" Noa mumbled.

"_I wish we were a family the way we should have been."_

"_I wouldn't mind having you for a brother, Noa."_

"_We're family! Of course I'll help!"_

Noa felt his stolen body react—his throat closed. _I'm so sorry, Mokuba._

Setsuna stared at him. "Well, I don't know him well enough to be sure, but he puts up with me just fine. Oneesama?"

Akiko said nothing for a long, tense moment. Then, in a voice like a whisper, "He is better than most. One of the few people not unnerved by my presence, even. And he has a good heart."

Noa gave a sort of shuddering sigh. "Well, that's good. It's nice to know I'm giving up my second chance at living for someone like that."

Both of the Sonozaki sisters blinked.

Noa, wearing Mokuba's face but not an expression the original boy had ever shown either sister, smiled in a sad sort of way. "I'll get everyone out first. I owe it to him."

Setsuna gave him the same kind of smile back. "I'll help."

Akiko said nothing, instead going back to tying Yami Malik up like a trussed-up turkey with cable ties.

* * *

Over the course of his sixteen years of life, Seto had eventually felt himself devolve into something that prized only negative emotions like hate and rage. He could remember that it wasn't always like that. Back when Mokuba and he had been just children, Seto was once a kind, if overprotective, older brother. Their already-present characteristics were still there, if amplified, once they lost their parents and were sent to that orphanage.

But once Seto had managed to cheat Kaiba Gozaburo into honoring that deal to adopt them, everything changed.

To Mokuba, it must have seemed like it happened nearly overnight. It hadn't. The seeds for every aspect of Seto's personality now had been there even then. Mokuba just never caught the rough edge of his mind before.

But what had been there—the dark twists in his mind—would never have come out if not for Gozaburo. Always Gozaburo. From him, Seto had learned that to lose was to _die_. He'd learned that the weak had no right to exist. He'd learned that anything and everything was disposable in the face of his pride.

He'd learned all the wrong things from Gozaburo. He'd learned to forget Mokuba. He'd learned that no one was worth anything if they couldn't keep up with him. He'd killed his heart and managed to hide the murder weapon behind a façade of polite disdain. The other Yugi had rewarded that unstable psychotic edge—the one that had nearly killed Sugoroku—with his own vicious counterattack, trapping him in an illusion of death that inspired a year's worth of nightmares.

From there, it just got worse. His personal demons continued to get the better of him, nigh continuously. Gozaburo's conditioning had worked its way into his brain to the point where Kaiba Seto honestly forgot where the original Seto had been under all that hate and fear. The other Yugi had come again then, when Seto had committed the unforgivable sin of turning even on Mokuba in that final stage of Death-T. And that time the split personality of the normally-mild Mutou Yugi had shattered his mind instead of allowing him to run loose again.

Not that Seto really blamed him that much, looking back at it. Once he'd turned on Mokuba, he'd lost all chance of redemption. But, for some reason, the other Yugi had left him with enough of a mind left to recover from that coma and go after Pegasus. It hadn't worked, granted, but at least he'd _tried_ that time rather than just leaving his brother to rot.

And now, facing the long-dead former CEO who had started it all again, Seto found that he honestly could not give less of a damn about the man's opinion.

Staring down his adopted father's Exodia Necross, Seto thought in absolute silence—aside from Gozaburo's relentless taunts. He looked at the man standing across from him, on the opposite dueling platform. He thought, _Screw him and the horse he rode in on_.

Blasting Gozaburo's graveyard contents with a simple (if conditional and rather stupidly specific) magic card that destroyed all the parts of Exodia Necross in one go, Seto summoned his Blue Eyes White Dragon instantly afterward and aimed.

"_Burst Stream_!"

Exodia Necross exploded under the power of the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Nearly everything did.

"Checkmate, Gozaburo." Seto said icily as the other man's life points plummeted. "It's over."

And it would have worked, too, if Gozaburo had had even a scrap of the strange honor system he'd managed to instill in his sons. He didn't.

Seto watched in furious, stunned disbelief as his adoptive father's body dissolved into a writhing red mass that looked more like flame than flesh and dove straight for him. If it hadn't been the virtual world, where the man was the stronger of the two of them, Seto could have found a way out of the situation on his own.

As it was, he was saved by the timely intervention of the starfish-headed King of Games once again. He wasn't sure what was more humiliating—the fact that he had needed to be rescued (by Yugi), the fact that it wasn't even the vicious split personality that had done the rescuing, or that Yugi had apparently managed to turn _Noa_ to his side, if the blaring vocal warning had anything to do with it.

"Jump!" Noa's voice ordered. "I'll open the portal on the way down!"

"Oh like _hell_—!" Seto started, but when they reached the edge of the virtual KaibaCorp headquarters' roof, Yugi hurled himself off without hesitation.

Looking back and spotting the monstrous form of his adoptive father smashing its way out of the office, Seto didn't even think before he followed.

* * *

"_Noa-niichan!" Mokuba spotted his adoptive brother there—or the brother they could have had, if he hadn't been almost entirely wiped from existence after he died._

_Noa gave him a sad sort of smile. "Hey, otouto. Sorry about that."_

"_About what? You got to live for a while, didn't you? And you came back for me!" Mokuba pointed out, crossing his arms. _

"_If you call being threatened within an inch of my life freedom." Noa said in a slightly sarcastic way. But it didn't have any real heat to it. "Your bodyguards seem to be almost as protective of you as Seto is."_

_Mokuba laughed. "They are! Oniisama and everyone else got out, right?"_

_Noa smiled again. "Yes. They're all free of the virtual world."_

"_But…Noa, does that mean you're going back?" Mokuba asked._

_Noa nodded. "I have to. I'm the only one who knows how to keep my father from ever escaping again."_

"_But Noa-niichan…" Mokuba might have been tearful—Noa had been detached from his living body for so long that he hardly remembered what grief was._

"_My time's been over for six years, otouto." Noa said quietly, looking away. "I can't keep pretending that your life is worth less than mine, or that it can replace what I had. Or that I'm worth what you are to everyone around you."_

"_Noa-niichan…"_

"_It's okay." Noa murmured. "There are people waiting for you on the other side, otouto. Go and meet them."_

_Mokuba sniffed. "Noa-niichan…we could have been a family. We could have been happy!"_

Not with Gozaburo there_, Noa thought. _But…_ "Otouto, we _are_ a family. You and me, and sometimes Seto. Just don't forget me, okay?"_

"_Okay."_

* * *

Mokuba opened his eyes to find both Yugi and Seto hovering over him like anxious parents. Before he could really contemplate the exact problem(s) with that thought, the world gave an ominous rumble. As he sat up and Seto hauled him out of the virtual reality pod, he spotted both Sonozaki and Setsuna standing nearby. While the woman was hovering just like Seto had been, the green-haired girl was biting her fingernails while waiting for a progress bar to load. Malik was slumped nearby, grumbling threats through his gag.

Just as Sonozaki started to fuss (or as well as someone like her could do), Setsuna yanked a memory drive the side of her outstretched arm out of the computer console, which had been ejected just moments ago. The console began to smoke.

All five of them broke into a flat-out run (with Malik being carried over Sonozaki's shoulder)

Setsuna wasn't really all that much taller than Mokuba was, but her legs were longer and she'd worn track shoes. He saw her stuff the memory drive into her backpack (which, Mokuba suddenly realized, he had never seen her without) and concentrate on running as fast as she could. Yugi was also very fast, which was surprising since his Physical Education score was horrible, but fear gave people wings sometimes. Seto was faster still, by virtue of being over 180 centimeters tall and enough judo training to make a lesser person crack. Just as Mokuba thought that, he realized he was slowing down. Setsuna was, too.

"Over here!" Otogi and Honda (now back to normal) were standing on the ramp, holding out their hands. Jounouchi was slightly behind them, shouting encouragement.

"Yugi!" As if in response to his name, the spiky-haired duelist actually went faster.

The airship was less than fifty feet away when Mokuba realized he wasn't going to last that long at top speed. Panting, Mokuba felt himself stumble. "I-I'm not going to make it!"

Setsuna just tripped and fell, swearing fluently for a Japanese girl her age. Sonozaki grabbed her arm.

"Don't think so." Seto grunted, and Mokuba felt his brother haul him into the air by the back of his vest. He had just enough time to blink, uncomprehending. And then suddenly he was airborne, having been thrown underarm by his own brother, smashing into Otogi and knocking him back against the steps painfully. Seto himself leapt and sailed over them, landing past Jou on the steps and stopping there to regain his breath.

Mokuba looked back and saw Sonozaki drag her sister to her feet by the girl's belts. The blue-haired woman ran directly at the ramp and jumped, hooking her arm around the hydraulic arm as it went past and dropping Setsuna unceremoniously on top of Honda. She tossed Malik (who was of course complaining quite bitterly at this point) into the airship without even glancing back at him.

Yugi came last, but Jou had managed to force himself to the front of the pack on the steps and caught the smaller duelist's arm as the airship started to pull up. Otogi and Honda snagged Yugi's jacket and pulled him in when it didn't seem like Jou would have enough leverage to do it against the lashing slipstream of the airship.

For a moment, it seemed like they'd be able to breathe easy.

Then they all were dumped awkwardly into the airship's belly when Seto slammed the emergency close button and the ramp snapped shut.

* * *

The base below erupted into flame, to absolutely no one's surprise, except maybe Shizuka's. Then again, she'd never really hung out with any of the duelists on the airship before—everything around them tended to have a low combustibility threshold.

But what about the bit with the massive fireball turning into a massive fire demon with Gozaburo's voice and an apparent grudge against Seto? Perhaps it was a bit more surprising, but only to people who didn't know Seto and the weird things that happened around him (that he tended to ignore).

Either way, as always, it was a problem solved through judicious application of velocity as permitted through ludicrously advanced technology. In other words, Seto found the other emergency button and pounded it. The superstructure of the blimp part of the airship burned away as the fiery apparition bit down on the ship, but the engines were intact. The blimp part was devoured, but the rest of the airship suddenly accelerated to slightly subsonic speed and broke free.

For the next few nights, the memory of Gozaburo's scream of outrage would give Seto something akin to good dreams.

* * *

Later that day, Setsuna shook out the contents of her backpack and surveyed the chunk of the motherboard Noa had begged her to take. _I hope this works, Noa-chan._ She didn't have any slot to plug it into yet, but she probably would once the Finals were over. Assuming that the Kaibas let her live with them, anyway.

* * *

The Battle City Finals. The grandest of the grand in terms of Duel Monsters championships.

It was also the current setting for the latest in a long line of magical duels with a tendency to leave the loser dead.

"Between the setbacks and psychotic people running around, I think we're doing something wrong here." Setsuna said finally, crossing her arms over her flat chest. She was frowning seriously at the duelist profiles displayed on the laptop, as if she actually knew what she was talking about.

Seto spared her a sidelong glance. "And this is coming from the girl who lost to the mutt in the first round?"

"He got lucky." Setsuna insisted. And since Jounouchi was always lucky, he was pretty much guaranteed to win any duel that wasn't against Yugi or Seto. _Or Yami Malik_, Setsuna thought, _given the sheer amount of Fate in the air_._ Everything here stinks of Destiny. Too bad for him that's everyone who made it to the finals in the first place._

"Or you got really _un_lucky." Mokuba piped up.

Seto raised an eyebrow. "A real duelist doesn't _need_ luck."

"This is coming from the guy who could have bought out Industrial Illusions three weeks ago." Setsuna grumbled. "Not all of us can get as many cards as some guy who lives in a game shop, a guy who owns the company that manufactures Duel Disks, or the friend of the guy in the card shop." She slumped and banged her head on the console a couple of times. "And I'm starting my last year of grade school in three weeks if I can get enrolled."

"You should have thought of that before tagging along like Yugi's little entourage." Seto said, absolutely uncaring. Given that Setsuna was whining, it was a perfectly rational response.

She raised a hand, twirling one finger in the air even though she didn't bother to actually look up. "Akiko-oneesama works for you. I have no legal guardians. You really think I'm going to slink around Domino in the week it takes you to get to and from KaibaCorp Island?"

"Yes." Seto said, just to be an asshole.

Mokuba sighed.

Setsuna gave a tired giggle. "You're such a jerk. And I can respect that, so long as you aim it mostly at Malik."

Seto blinked, but he was only surprised for a moment. Confidence was something that nearly never left his voice. "Oh? Why should I be especially cold to him, Houjou?"

Setsuna looked up. "On one hand, we might not have been able to find a way to get to Noa's control room in time if Malik hadn't helped. On the other, Akiko-oneesama had to beat the crap out of him to keep him from killing Mutou anyway."

Seto thought about it, briefly. "I have an idea for his reward."

"Like what?"

Seto leaned down and whispered his answer to both of the middle-school-aged kids, because some things just aren't meant to be said too loudly. And besides, they had the sense of humor required to understand Seto's own, which was black and twisted like licorice.

Mokuba and Setsuna were silent for a moment…then started giggling uncontrollably. There are just some things about a conspiracy that bring out the worst in people. Setsuna recovered first. "Wow, I think you win the prize for Biggest Inconsiderate Jerk in the Universe right there. I'll do it."

* * *

Yami Malik got an in-flight movie, unlike most of the rest of the duelists (except Mai, who was watching _FLCL_ with Jounouchi and trying to explain all the innuendo). Within ten minutes, he'd stabbed the screen to death and was promising all sorts of horrible vengeance on Seto, who, once again, couldn't give less of a damn.

That movie? _The Prince of Egypt_.

Yeah. No wonder he was pissed off.

* * *

Extremely long and not very interesting story short, the tournament roster looked like this:

Mutou Yugi versus Kaiba Seto.

Jounouchi Katsuya versus (Yami) Malik Ishtar. Setsuna had added in the scribble of kanji just to be contrary.

"This is going to be interesting." Akiko murmured. It was enough of a reaction that Setsuna turned to her sister and stared. Akiko didn't spare her a glance.

Setsuna sighed and went back to tinkering with her newest invention. She was trying to make an internal combustion engine out of forks, jumper cables, potatoes, and a can of peas. She'd gotten sparks out of it already. Then, Setsuna asked to the room at large, "What are we going to do after the tournament?"

There was a round of blank looks from everyone but Yami and Yami Malik, who were glaring daggers at each other.

"Life's pretty much going to be the same afterward." Honda put in. "Sure, maybe Kaiba will be even more of an asshole than he already is—" At this, the CEO didn't even look offended, "—or Malik might embark on a genocidal rampage, but otherwise things'll still be normal."

"Ah." Setsuna said, chewing on one of her pigtails. "So, no prize money or anything?"

"No." Seto scoffed. "Like I'm going to pay myself."

Setsuna, who had ranked almost at the bottom of the list of duelists allowed into Battle City to fill out the ranks, stared. "So, it's just for the love of the game and pride and stuff?"

"Well," Bakura added mildly (and since Setsuna wasn't at all sure which one was in control at the moment, she stared more), "there _is_ also the concerning-to-dire issue of the fate of the world. And possibly stopping a murderer. That's very important, too, if you care about that sort of thing."

"Okay then." Setsuna said. If there had ever been a more cynical teenager than Setsuna who wasn't named Seto, no one had met him or her yet. "_Now_ the game's all about magic and spirits and abracadabra and Destiny with a capital D?"

That drew an even blanker set of faces.

"Yes, yes it is." Setsuna got back to work as the four finalists were told to get to the top of Alcatraz (the tower on KaibaCorp Island).

* * *

The first duel was a four-way match between Yami, Kaiba, Jounouchi, and Yami Malik. Oddly enough, three of them ganged up on Yami Malik (apparently because of some kind of unspoken agreement that he was the most annoying out of them), knocking him down to zero life points first. Jou all but volunteered to be lose the duel next, leaving Seto and Yami as the only two duelists left. There would be a winner's bracket and a loser's bracket, and the winners of both would make up the last and grandest duel of the tournament.

Anzu took one look at the board and knew that Kaiba and Jounouchi were both going to lose. It was like a law of the universe, since Yami Malik and Yugi needed to duel or else a hole would open up in the space-time continuum or something. Of course, Jounouchi and Kaiba wouldn't care for this particular observation, so she kept it to herself.

* * *

"Jounouchi, be careful!" Mai shouted from the sidelines as the first duel of the finals began. Jounouchi gave her a wink and a sidelong grin, but he was focusing on shuffling his deck. While Mai was (mostly) safe, Jou hadn't forgotten that Malik had tried to torture her before. There were certain things, like that, that Jounouchi would never forgive Yami Malik for. It was one thing to plan a kidnapping (like the normal Malik had) and fail spectacularly at it, but quite another to plan to drive someone mad just because you thought it would be fun.

"I could have crushed you three times in the time it's taking you to shuffle those cards!" Yami Malik snarled impatiently.

Jou, of course, was doing it just to piss Yami Malik off. Let it never be said that the entire group that contituted Yugi's closest circle of friends had much of a survival instinct. Yes, that includes Kaiba.

"Keeping yakking, asshole." Jou replied flippantly, finally slotting his deck into place on his Duel Disk.

"Done with your primping, Jounouchi-chan?" Yami Malik taunted.

Jounouchi have Malik a hostile stare from under his fringe of blond hair. "Keep pushing it and I'll come over there and show you how a real man fights. I've beaten better fighters than you." _Keith, Saruwatari, all of Kaiba's thugs in Death-T…Malik, you're nothing compared to them._

Yami Malik grinned maniacally. "We'll see about that, Jounouchi-chan!"

* * *

"I hate it when Malik uses -chan to refer to people." Setsuna grumbled from somewhere near Anzu's left elbow. Her sister had hovered near Mokuba for a while before disappearing, apparently deciding that his older brother was protection enough. "It sounds like he's thinking about eating them. Or stabbing them."

"You do it all the time, and you never mean it." Anzu pointed out, since Setsuna had an unfortunate habit of totally ignoring her own flaws until they were thrown back in her face. Rather like Seto, actually, though Anzu figured the CEO had to be more introspective than a hormonal thirteen-year-old. If he didn't, she'd have to revise her opinion of him in a downward direction.

Setsuna huffed. "That's different—I'm just teasing. And with Malik, I'm trying to piss him off."

"That doesn't sound like a particularly smart idea." Anzu remarked.

"Well, no." Setsuna paused, apparently thinking it over. "But that hasn't stopped me, like, ever." She looked over to where Sonozaki had been about five minutes beforehand. "I'm going to let you guys cheer Jounouchi on. I somehow don't think me being gone will change his odds much."

Anzu sighed and patted the girl on the head. "Well, it's nice to know you're on our side, Setsuna-chan."

Setsuna blinked rapidly and ran away.

* * *

Malik versus Jounouchi was a long, pitched affair. Both duelists hated each other (or Jou did, anyway—Malik seemed to view Jou the same way most cats viewed slow, fat mice. Particularly stupid ones) and it showed. Even though the match had long since turned into a Shadow Game and it was apparent that one of them wouldn't be walking out of that match under his own power, no one interfered.

It just wouldn't be a proper Shadow Game (or Duel Monsters match, for that matter) if there was a referee who actually _did_ anything.

At some point—Mai didn't know when—Malik summoned the Winged Dragon of Ra. She didn't know when, because it seemed like it would have been from the start of the match as far as the competitors' stamina was concerned.

Malik laughed wildly, ordering his great beast to blast Jounouchi with all of its power.

He did.

The look on his face, though, when Jounouchi turned out to have not only survived the blast, but was still standing with 50 life points left? Absolutely priceless.

Even if Jounouchi did collapse in pain and exhaustion before he could make his final monster beat Malik's head in, Seto had gotten a picture of Malik's final, frozen look of shocked horror on his cell phone camera. He anonymously sent it to Jounouchi's room much later in postcard form, while the blond was recovering.

Because some things are just much better than gloating.

Seto thought, rather idly (because malice aforethought was almost second nature to him and Malik was an irresistible target because Seto hated him), that that look was just _perfect_. Hopefully, it would be echoed by the other Yugi in their own match.

* * *

Akiko, as it turned out, had pretty much vanished. As a last-ditch effort, Setsuna even checked their shared bedroom, and it was also empty of blue-haired older sisters.

It was not, however, _actually_ empty. A huge blue scroll was lying on the bed, partially unrolled. Setsuna, in the tradition of all snooping little kids everywhere, sat on the bed, unrolled it more, and started reading.

What she found terrified her.

On one of the lengths of the scroll, dated to about two days ago, there was a chart. Unlike most simple pie charts, there were no percentages or pretty colors—this chart was really more like a picture of a circle divided into three parts, with enough kanji around the edges to give even the ever-curious Setsuna pause. Some of the lines flowed together in places—Sanskrit? Arabic?—and looped around the central orb a few times. There was some kanji along the three dividing lines, but none in the little sections.

The title at the top of the page didn't actually mean anything—to Setsuna, it read something like "Heart," except that couldn't be right because no diagram of the human heart she had ever seen had indicated that it only had three chambers.

"'It is very unusual,'" Setsuna read aloud from some of the tiny squiggles that were samples of her sister's handwriting. At least she thought so. She'd never seen Akiko write anything. "'There is no precedent. Those who undergo initiation give up a piece of themselves to the nether. We break. You cannot break in reverse.'"

Setsuna stared at the chart, which was filled in with red ink in one section. "What the hell…?" Another third of the fragmented circle was filled in with blue.

"'_Kokoro_…'" Setsuna murmured, tracing the kanji. "Can't fix yourself…" She unraveled the scroll a bit more. On another segment, the notes read, "'The Human Soul is divided into three parts—Will, Emotion, and Mind. Separate, they are weak, but allow for bonding with the Ether. Together, they are whole and healthy. Rejoining the pieces is said to be excruciating. No one has survived the process.'"

Setsuna said nothing for a long moment, staring at a wall. Even though she was horrified, her curiosity and _need to know_ was driving her now. Sometimes she hated that part of herself.

She looked at the scroll again, this time skipping the section about souls entirely. She ended up stopping at a point which bore the title _Contracts_.

On it was a chart of every ability Setsuna had seen her sister display, and then some. Also in the chart, under the heading of _Contractors_, was a dozen or more tiny entries that were all, apparently, employers' names. Some of the entries glowed white, or were black, and others were crossed out completely. At the very end, which Setsuna only found by squinting and turning on the bedside lamp, was the name _Kaiba Seto._

The space beside it, for abilities corresponding with the final contract holder, was completely blank.

Setsuna lifted her head to stare at empty air. She pushed herself into the corner where the bed met the wall, tucked her knees up against her chest, and wondered about what in the world she was going to do.

* * *

It was probably the first time anyone had seen Yami mix misery and fury quite so thoroughly. Though Jou was unconscious, not stark raving mad or in a coma or soul-shredded or something even more terrifying, it didn't change the fact that, once again, Yami Malik had been able to hurt someone he cared about. Yami slammed one fist against the nearest metal wall before using the same hand to cover his eyes. Everything was in a downward spiral.

"He's not dead," Anzu's voice said from nearby. Yami glanced at her, scarlet eyes wavering a little, and saw that she'd been crying too. But under her tears was a semblance—a shadow, really—of Yami's seething rage. "He's okay, all right? Stop beating yourself up over it."

"But…" It _was_ his fault, wasn't it? Jounouchi was only in danger—had only been hurt—because he was practically Yugi's brother. The two teens were practically attached at the hip sometimes, freely risking their lives for one another without hesitation at all. Yami had known Jou for almost as long, and the boy was a stalwart friend and someone he cared for almost as much as he did for Yugi. It was hard to sort out whose emotions tugged the strongest, since Yami and Yugi's combined anger and despair were reinforcing each other through their bond. "He would never have been hurt if he wasn't our friend."

"…" Anzu saw no alternative. She didn't clock Yami for being an idiot. She would have, if it had been Jou or Honda she was talking to. Instead, she said, as sharply as she could muster through her own half-hidden sobs, "You're being stupid, Pharaoh or not."

Yami blinked at her, completely uncomprehending.

"Look," Anzu said forcefully, "we've all been down this route before. Jounouchi fought Hirutani over this. He thought we were going to get hurt because Hirutani wanted him back and was going to beat the hell out of us to make do it, but we all kept trying to reach him. Remember? Jounouchi was beaten half to death and so were you and Yugi and we all got colds later from being out in the rain for three flipping hours, but did any one of us feel back because we stuck by him? Hell no." Anzu forced her tears back. She had to be the solid support for the group. With Yami and Yugi both like this, and Honda three seconds from exploding into a combination of helpless anger and pain, she was the only one with the personality to force them all back into fighting shape. "Hirutani's gang could have killed you. You went after him anyway even though Jounouchi didn't want you to have to, _because you were his friend_."

"Yami Malik could have killed him in a second." Yami responded, not half as fierce or as confident as he should have been.

"And Hirutani's gang, Kaiba's Death-T games, and that Inmate 777 couldn't have?" Anzu shot back. "Jounouchi wasn't on Malik's hit list _only_ because he's your friend. He defended Mai, and he swore he was going crack Malik's head open like an egg because of that. Jounouchi made a decision to fight and if it landed him in the hospital, the only regret he'd have is that he can't watch you throttle people in his place."

It was true, in a way. Jounouchi had to be one of the most aggressive people Yami had ever met who wasn't evil. Yami Bakura was a sadistic creature who was less human than a hyena, Yami Malik was a similar, if more manipulative and kind of psycho, and Yami admitted to himself that he hadn't been anything approaching good for the first few months after his first time possessing Yugi. Kaiba was an ass, but quietly noble in is own way and in possession of a ludicrously specific honor code. Jounouchi had been a thug in middle school, apparently. And while that didn't hold much of a candle to the danger he was in now, it was hard to deny that Jou would have rushed in anyway.

"You have a point, Anzu." Yami murmured, trying to hold back the sort of laugh people only ever used when they were about to collapse in relief.

_Other me, Jounouchi will be okay._ Yugi said, speaking to the spirit for the first time since Jou had been given over to the doctors.

"He's going to be okay." Anzu said, completely oblivious to Yugi's silent reassurance. "It'll take a lot worse than that to kill Jounouchi Katsuya. He's too boneheaded to lie down long enough to die."

Yami gave Anzu a twisted sort of smile. He wasn't happy with the situation, but he had no doubt that if Jounouchi was awake he would have said much the same thing. He'd get better. They would just have to wait for him to decide to come back again. "Is Mai all right?"

Anzu sighed. "She's not happy and probably would be swearing vengeance right now if Shizuka wasn't there, but she's dealing with it. It helps that Shizuka's there, I think. Honda and Otogi too."

_Better than nothing._ Yugi thought with a sad lilt to his mental voice. _If we can't stay to worry over him, I hope everyone else will keep looking after Jounouchi until we get back from beating Yami Malik._

Yami nodded to the silent voice. "They'll take care of him. We just have to take care of Yami Malik for him."

Anzu smiled. It was kind of watery, but at least it was a smile of some sort. "Right."

* * *

**A/N:** This was really hard to write for such a short chapter…


	10. The First Finale

**Chapter Ten: The First Finale**

**A/N:** And this is the end of the Battle City arc!

* * *

Mokuba spotted Setsuna running around the hallways in Alcatraz tower and dragged her toward the elevator over her mumbled protests. "Come on, Setsuna-kun!" Mokuba said brightly. "This time niisama is going to beat Yugi for sure." Then he went silent, because Setsuna wasn't even looking at him. She stared blankly at the floor for a while before just sighing and starting to steadily thump her head against the wall of the elevator.

"Setsuna?" Mokuba had no idea what was going on. All he knew was that it was really, really freaky to see Setsuna like this—she would usually have been the one to drag him to the dueling arena, not because she was interested in the outcome but because she could.

"I'm fine, Mokuba." Setsuna grumbled, having stopped smacking her head against the wall to just lean against it. "Once the room stops spinning, I'll be even _more_ okay."

Mokuba hadn't lived to be eleven (which, among the Kaibas, was almost an unbelievable accomplishment) by being an idiot. "You're lying."

"So what if I am?" Setsuna grumbled. Her hands clenched into fists. "Look, it doesn't have anything to do with you. I'll watch the damn duel, so just stop bugging me."

If Setsuna hadn't been a girl, Mokuba would have punched her. As far as he could tell (and he was probably mostly right), she was just being twice as overdramatic as she usually was. "Then what is it about?" Mokuba asked crossly.

"Haven't a clue." Setsuna said. She straightened and turned around, and Mokuba noticed that her eyes were reddened. Only a little, since it was hard to tell anyway when a person's eyes were bright red anyway, but Mokuba was sure Setsuna wasn't at her best at all.

"I'm not taking _that_ for an answer." Mokuba said stubbornly. "If it made you crazy enough that you're not even arguing with me the right way anymore, it has to be serious enough that I _have_ to know about it."

Setsuna fixed him with a dull, if sullen, look, and sighed. "Fine. You really want to know?"

"Duh." Mokuba said, and crossed his arm. He had a minute to fill—the elevator ride up to the top of Alcatraz was a long one.

"Okay then. What if I told you that Akiko-oneesama had a soul that was broken into three pieces, once of which she managed to get back in addition to the one she already had?" Setsuna said hotly. "And that, because of the particular way her magic works, your brother might be in big trouble? Like, possibly life-endangering trouble? What would you say then?"

Mokuba said nothing for a long, strained moment. Setsuna was glaring at him the whole time, breathing hard and clenching her fists, which made it a little hard to think. Then, after a lot of thought, he said, "Then I'd say, what are we going to do about it?"

* * *

They made it to the dueling platform in time to watch the first turn of the duel. Mokuba ran ahead, smacking into Isono and whispering fiercely at him, while Setsuna went to her sister's side for a quick interrogation.

"Akiko-oneesama." Setsuna began, as Yami summoned his Queen's Knight in defense mode. The woman didn't even turn her head to face her. "Oneesama?"

"What is it, Setsuna-kun?" Akiko murmured.

Setsuna went for the blunt approach, because she didn't have it in her to act any other way. "Why do you have a Contract scroll?"

Akiko's eyes flickered. "Where did you find it?"

"In our room." Setsuna replied.

Akiko said nothing for a long moment. She finally turned to face her younger sister, her eyes dark. "Is there a problem with that arrangement, Setsuna-kun?"

Setsuna forced down her instinctual terror—_so_ _this feeling is what the others were talking about_—and frowned severely. "Yeah, there is. Did you ever bother to tell Kaiba about it? And the possible side effects of your type of magic? Half the names on your list were crossed out."

"No, I did not." Akiko said quietly. "I have little to no reason to."

"What, are you going to say that what he doesn't know won't hurt him?" Setsuna demanded, fighting back her easily-triggered temper. It didn't work. "It _will_, Akiko. I have no idea what those other powers cost the people who enter a partnership with you when you use them, but it can't be all sunshine and daisies. What happens the first time you need to use whatever powers you took from his contract?"

Akiko sighed (which, again, was staggeringly emotional for someone like her) and kneeled down so she could face Setsuna evenly. She pulled something out of her hip holster (which should have housed her Dueling deck) and pressed it into Setsuna's hand. "Read this, Setsuna-kun. Maybe that will help you understand how this process works."

Setsuna stared at her hand, at the fist-sized notebook in it. She flipped it open and glanced at a few of the pages. The tiny book was loaded with charts, diagrams, and lists with Akiko's tiny handwriting all along the margins. "Are these supposed to be formulas?"

"Yes." Akiko said, looking back up at the two duelists above. They seemed to be having a few problems going back and forth with their God cards. It would probably come down to a face-off between Obelisk and Osiris, and there was no guarantee that anyone would be okay if Yami was using his Puzzle to make the monsters temporarily real.

"You need to help me go over this. You're going to explain _everything_." Setsuna hissed, her eyes narrowed into a deathly glare. "I can't let anyone else get hurt."

Akiko gave her a sidelong glance and Setsuna was struck by how utterly contemptuous of everything she looked just then. "May I ask one question then, Setsuna-kun?"

"What is it?" Setsuna said, her voice very quiet.

"If it is dangerous enough for Kaiba-sama—and my method is indeed risky—and you have me stop, who is going to stop _him_?" Akiko murmured, tilting her head a little toward Yami Malik.

Setsuna gulped. "Mutou-san will…I think."

"Given his track record so far, I would guarantee nothing." Akiko remarked quietly. "His powers abide by passive rules, used to change the battlefield against unwary opponents. Against someone like Ishtar-san, that will not be enough."

Setsuna thought about it. "But you said earlier that Mutou-san used to cause all sorts of damage to people who caused him problems. He would be able to use that same magic against Malik, right?"

"While that is correct," and Akiko seemed to have a few reservations even about admitting that, "the psychological profile of the person who committed that much offensive magic to breaking his enemies' minds is not the one Mutou displays at the moment. Neither of them seem to be malicious enough at present to attack first or bend the established rules enough to permanently end the threat, though I lack access to any individual reports to confirm it."

Setsuna stared. "You know, that's really, really freaky that you actually thought about all of this."

Akiko blinked as though struck, but displayed no other sign of emotion. "My primary directive is ensuring the safety of Kaiba Mokuba. As such, it has also become my priority to protect all others willing to do the same. This includes most, but not all, of the passengers on this airship." She turned her head again to face Malik. "I am forbidden from actively seeking out and eliminating threats to that priority, however, by my employer. There are legal concerns."

"I shouldn't have to tell you that you sound like a robot." Setsuna mumbled grumpily. "Don't you ever have a single thought of your own that doesn't have to do with babysitting Mokuba-kun?"

Akiko rolled one shoulder, as though uncomfortable thinking about the topic. "Until our contract is terminated, that is my duty. I cannot allow pain, injury, or illness sway me…"

Setsuna walked away while Akiko was still whispering to herself. She met Mokuba coming back the other way.

"I think my sister's a robot in disguise." Setsuna announced, holding up the battered black notebook Akiko had given her. "A magical robot, yeah, but I don't think I've ever met someone who might as well think in binary code."

Mokuba snatched the book from Setsuna's hand and looked it over. "Well, I know niisama doesn't believe in magic, but I think he can believe in androids. So, what now? He's not listening to me, she's not listening to you, and everyone else is too wrapped up in what's going on to help us much."

Setsuna pinched the bridge of her nose. "Well, I think it's time we fall back to the tried-and-true method of heroes everywhere."

"Wing it?"

"Wing it."

* * *

So, Seto lost. To anyone who's actually paid attention to the individual duels in the average plotline, this is absolutely not a surprise at all. Yugi only ever loses at games for plot reasons, after all. And obviously letting Kaiba keep a freaking GOD CARD wouldn't screw up the fate of the world a lot, because he's _so_ responsible.

With Mokuba? Yes. With cards and mental instability and megalomaniacal laughter? Nah.

* * *

The kids, meanwhile, had hijacked the airship's mainframe to do a little responsible research, which apparently no one else had ever bothered thinking about. Besides, with the jets completely unresponsive until about five minutes ago (when Osiris's breath had somehow jump-started everything again), the crew were still on break.

Setsuna watched the occult symbols on the screen streak past, leaving little angular brushstroke blurs across her retinas. It was making her really dizzy and probably wasn't really what they were looking for anyway. "Hey Mokuba?"

"What is it?" Mokuba asked, going over the images and searching for some kind of match in a different database.

Setsuna yawned. "I think your brother needs to stop taking losing duels so personally."

Mokuba stared at her.

"What?"

Mokuba gave a short bark of a laugh. "Don't let him hear you say that, okay?"

_THUD_.

Both of them whipped around to find Jounouchi scrambling out the door, with Mai, Honda, Shizuka, Otogi, and Anzu in tow. The entire procession whipped through the control room like a typhoon, upending coffee cups and sandwich bags and bento boxes. After a minute or two, the two non-teenagers saw the doctor stumble into view.

"Wasn't he in a coma?" Setsuna asked in disbelief.

The doctor gave a helpless shrug. "I don't know what's going on either! The one with point hair just grabbed him and _shook_ him awake." He mimed the motion, but only briefly. "And then they all escaped!"

The two kids exchanged looks. Finally, Mokuba just shook his head and turned back to the monitors. "Grown-ups," he said, in tones of great, put-upon disapproval.

Setsuna giggled in spite of herself.

* * *

Jounouchi and Seto proceeded to get into an instant fight for third place at the base of the tower. Of course, Jounouchi lost, but at least he managed to piss Seto off in the meantime. That just left the long-overdue match between Yugi and Malik up in the air. Or something—honestly, Mokuba had long since stopped paying attention to almost anything the Egyptian did. The tournament itself had stopped meaning much more than another electricity bill to Mokuba after Seto had lost.

Setsuna, who had been leaning over the consoles to watch the duel outside of the front window, said, "Told you."

"Shut up," said Mokuba.

* * *

About an hour or so later, it was time for the final duel. The biggest deal ever. The last hurrah. Yami/Yugi Mutou and (Yami) Malik Ishtar. Or rather, Yami versus Yami Malik while their respective better halves were busy trying not to be completely and utterly devoured by the purple aura stuff that was apparently a product of Yami Malik's weird magic item and entirely too little sleep.

"What I wouldn't give to be able to smash Malik-chan's head in right now." Setsuna mumbled, but perhaps not quietly enough.

"Enough comments from the peanut gallery." Yami Malik snapped, and there was a certain amount of grand gesturing that had to go with it. There was never going to be such a thing as a non-theatrical villain in this universe.

Setsuna responded the mature way and chose to make funny faces and stick her tongue out at him. Okay, so maybe it wasn't the _most_ mature way. But it was something, and for someone who couldn't do anything against Malik anyway," harmless irritant" was about the best anyone could expect.

"Get _on_ with it, Ishtar." Seto ordered, obviously in no mood to deal with the Egyptian's shenanigans. This was even despite the fact that he'd won the duel for third place over Jounouchi, though admittedly he was probably still sore about the blond using his precious Blue Eyes White Dragon against him. "If you idiots take any longer I'm just going to start giving out penalties."

Akiko, for her part, seemed to be staring contemplatively up at the platform and thinking hard. Setsuna found she couldn't blame her.

The situation had long since stopped making any sort of scientific sense. Setsuna was one of those weird people who tended to think in terms of scientific inquiry while talking about whatever type of supernatural oddity came her way. It was one of the reasons she would have made a horrible mage, even if she'd had a single spark of magic in her—she couldn't stop being critical of everything and just believe in it. Belief was one of her weak points; overanalyzing something was a strength of hers.

This was one of those things that gave people like her massive tension headaches.

Okay, Malik—both of them—on one end of the field. She wasn't sure how that worked, exactly—wasn't Yami Malik supposed to be just a split personality?—but she had already wasted too much time thinking about it. She understood that Yugi and Yami were two fully separate spirits just inhabiting a single body (which also gave her a bit of a headache) but seriously, what the hell?

"Akiko?" Setsuna murmured without turning her head. "What's so interesting?"

"The specific parameters of this spell are undefined and unjustified by magical theory." Akiko murmured, her red eyes flitting between the littler, gentler Yugi and the less psychopathic Malik. "Spirits can manifest through a binding spell such as this one, but not true multiple personalities. They are fundamentally mundane and not individuals unto themselves."

"Given the glowing eyeball on his forehead," Setsuna suggested quietly, "I think it's more like this particular one is a bit enhanced."

Akiko nodded minutely. "With an artifact such as the Millennium Rod in hand reinforcing its own existence, I suppose it is possible that the subject could have gained independence from its host…"

Setsuna frowned a little. "Okay, that works for the magical theory aspect. How are we going to get everyone down intact, then?"

"Ideally, Mutou-san's secondary spirit will win the duel and the rules magic involved will devour only Ishtar-san's split personality." Akiko didn't display any real concern over this, but considering that she almost never changed her expression, Setsuna couldn't be sure. "But this type of magic deals in contracts and rules—deals. It can be destructive, provided that one never loses or cheats."

Setsuna quickly went over everything she knew about magic that relied on rules. There wasn't a lot. "It probably was _self_-destructive a lot of the time."

Akiko nodded. "Correct in theory. Regardless, I am uncertain how to proceed. Ishtar-san's victory would undoubtedly result in the deaths of everyone aboard this airship from a combination of the backlash of this form of magic and his own efforts, but I do not think I can interfere in Mutou-san's favor."

"Right. 'Cause that would fall under 'cheating' somewhere." Setsuna huffed. "Okay, here comes the first attack…"

_WHOOSH._ Yami's life points proceeded to drop by five hundred and the killer leech thingy Malik had summoned waved its huge head tauntingly. As though on cue, the "normal" Yugi gave a hiss of pain and thrashed against his bonds as the purple magic—or whatever it really was (since it gave the oddest impression of sentience)—dissolved part of his lower leg into nothingness.

Setsuna was never one for being speechless with shock, so maybe ranting in utter bafflement was more up her alley. "…I just saw someone's foot get gnawed off by shadow stuff. _What the hell_?"

"It's just a trick." Seto grumbled.

"I'll believe that once _you_ start believing that." Setsuna shot back. She turned back to the platform. "Holy crap."

After the Vampire Leech was destroyed by Yami's Queen's Knight, the duel seemed to turn into something more akin to a relentless back-and-forth between the two spirits. The blonde warrior decked out in red was promptly destroyed by one of Malik's four-star monsters, Juragedo. Then the magic and traps finally made their own appearance, with Exchange and other spells lashing across the dueling arena just to make the entire power struggle more interesting.

Yami summoned King's Knight and then dragged Jack's Knight out of his deck, and by this point everyone recognized the setup for his _coup de grace_ in the form of a three-hundred-foot-long scarlet serpent dragon.

At the exact same time, Malik proceeded to summon his Winged Dragon of Ra in Phoenix Mode using Monster Reborn (a.k.a. Raise Dead).

"This is going to be _ugly_." Anzu said.

Mokuba immediately corrected her, for his older brother's sake. "No, it's going to be _awesome_."

Setsuna facepalmed. Not that she was against awesomeness itself (in fact, quite the opposite), but this really wasn't the time to be talking about it. Not when people might get killed.

Then again, Mokuba and Seto were the only ones who still thought it was just a game. Malik would probably do his best to disillusion them later on.

* * *

_Other me, don't worry about it!_ Yugi half-shouted mentally, because he'd already lost most of his mouth and throat to the Shadow Realm and couldn't have made a sound if he'd tried.

_I'm not going to let you die here, Yugi! _Yami snarled back, with raw, protective rage surging along their link. Yami was desperate, tired, furious, and not at all in the mood to compromise with anyone regarding his partner's safety.

_And I won't let you kill him either!_ Yugi retorted.

That was one of the things that had always marked the two of them as different. Yami, while not exactly evil anymore, was no saint. He could be roused to anger easily, depending on the reason, and when he hated someone he wouldn't ever let that grudge go, not until he had his revenge in some form or another. He had a mindset that didn't allow him to relate to normal humans all that well, mostly due to his experience of being in the Puzzle for so long that he forgot he was even a person, but partially also because his judgmental nature was something that had served him well before.

Yugi got angry. Everyone did eventually, but Yugi didn't _hate_. He didn't feel that bubbling rage in his chest that threatened to make him surge over the edge of morality and take a crowbar (or playing card, as the case may be) to someone's skull. In fact, without Yugi, Yami knew he would be no better than Yami Malik. It was one of the reasons he was so fiercely protective of him. And even now, Yugi was talking him down from issuing a potentially-lethal beatdown to the arrogant _son of a bitch_ that was Yami Malik.

Malik himself dangled limply from the shadow restraints on his side of the field, totally unresponsive. Yami had heard Yugi calling out to his fellow host more than once, though he was still slightly confused by it. Malik on his own had tried to kidnap their friends several times, and Mokuba had mentioned several kidnapping attempts that might have also been the result of Ghoul activity (before Sonozaki had apparently shut them down by force), but… Yami _did_ see Malik as an enemy, if one defeated by its own problems.

Yugi saw someone in pain and reached out to them without thinking. That was just how Yugi was. Yami was glad of it, even if he didn't fully understand it.

"Hey, Mutou-kun!" Someone was shouting at them from below. Yami looked down and Setsuna waved.

Yami heard a stray thought from Yugi that basically went, _What is she—?_

"Me and neesan have a theory." Setsuna spoke extremely quickly—Yami could see Seto start to open his mouth to tell her to shut up already. "Watch what you do with Yami Malik—we think he might be able to survive even the backlash from a Shadow Game without the original personality."

_What?_ Yugi asked silently.

Yami understood instantly, even if his partner didn't. Without Yugi, Yami wouldn't exist. He'd still be trapped in the Puzzle, one way or another. And if Yugi died—or his soul disappeared—it would be the same way. But if the original Malik was completely destroyed…

The spirit's mental voice was hard when he finally managed to come up with a response to Yugi's wordless inquiry. _We have two options—we either kill them both, or we find a way to trap Yami Malik separately and take him out of the picture._

_But…_

Yami winced mentally. _We can't keep Yami Malik at bay forever. And he needs to be stopped permanently, whatever way we can._

There was a silent sigh from Yugi. _I know. Just let me try Malik again._

Maybe, once, Malik might have been able to throw off his alternate personality's control. Yami doubted the Egyptian would be able to muster the strength now.

_Malik! Come on, talk to me!_ Yugi called. No response. _Malik, we can't do this without you! No one else can stop your other self…_

To Yami's utter shock, he saw Malik's spirit glance up at them with dull eyes. _Yugi…?_

_Malik!_

Another miracle, courtesy of Yugi's infinite kindness.

_Yugi…help me…_ The Egyptian shuddered violently as he struggled against his bonds. But it didn't look like the fight would last long—Yami knew a beaten dog when he saw one. Malik was so terrified of his other personality that any encouragement Yugi could give was hollow in the face of it.

Yami Malik snorted. "Trying to play hero, Yugi-chan?"

Yugi glared at him, but it wasn't intense enough to make a dent. Besides, Yugi was more occupied trying to keep Malik from just giving up. As it was, the Egyptian needed all the help he could get.

Yami gave the violet-eyed spirit a scarlet death glare. "Get bent, you arrogant bastard."

Somewhere below, Jounouchi echoed the sentiment with a sharp, "You tell him, Pharaoh!"

Malik seemed to close in on himself, as if in terror, and Yami felt Yugi give a groan. _Come on, Malik! You were so close!_

Malik gave a tired little sigh. _Rishid…_

Yami Malik snarled—he must have heard the name as well.

_I think we have options now, other me._ Yugi said in a rare moment of deviousness. Usually Yugi was a little more straightforward, awkward, and kind to everyone in general.

Yami sighed mentally. He looked down. "Setsuna-kun?"

"What is it, Mutou-kun?" Setsuna asked mildly, while everyone else was wondering what the hell was going on, since none of them were psychics. Undoubtedly, the girl was and had heard them perfectly.

"Get Rishid."

Setsuna blinked, as did Yami Malik, but she was gone before the spirit could even figure out which way to lash out at her. For a little thing with a vicious temper and an acid tongue to match, but no actual powers or particularly useful combat skills, she could be pretty fast when she wanted to make a quick exit. Yami noticed that Sonozaki hadn't moved.

Yami Malik snarled again, "I will get you for this, Pharaoh!"

Yami smirked back. And because he was never one to hold back on either snark or taunts, he said, "Whatever. You're living on borrowed time."

* * *

And really, aside from the whole confrontation between Yami Malik and Malik and the card magic card called Ragnarok and the whole Shadow Realm thing going away, that was that. Yugi and Yami owned the three Egyptian God Cards, nobody was in a coma anymore, and everything was pretty much going to be the way it should have been.

A happy ending, really.

Sonozaki said absolutely nothing as Seto dismissed her to accompany the others on the blimp (or whatever it was called now—the actual helium-filled part was long gone), while he and Mokuba went down toward the base of KaibaCorp Island to rig the entire artificial setup to explode into so many steel fragments. She did as she was ordered—that was all she needed to know. She would follow Seto's orders, so long as they did not clash with the CEO's emphasis on his younger brother's safety being paramount.

She bumped into Setsuna on the way to the blimp. Normally she would have avoided the girl as much as she could without being rude, but there didn't seem to be any way to escape her now.

Setsuna didn't look her in the eyes. "I'm sorry."

Sonozaki blinked. Paused, knelt to see what was wrong. It was something she had picked up by watching Mazaki.

Setsuna was crying. It wasn't a huge mess—there was a little sniffling, and only a few tears escaped her eyes, but her younger sister was well and truly upset.

"What do you have to apologize for?" Sonozaki asked, tilting her head to indicate both curiosity and willingness to listen. She was getting better at acting normal, mostly from watching Mutou's friends interact, but she wasn't perfect. "I wasn't aware…"

"It's not something that happened recently." Setsuna said, her voice cracking. "Look, I was going to get Rishid like Mutou asked and he was already awake, and Ishizu was getting him to his feet. And I went to the computers to see if the stuff Mokuba-kun and I were looking at was done being analyzed."

Sonozaki waited patiently for her to continue, running her fingers through her sister's hair while being careful to avoid tugging. Something she'd seen Jounouchi do when _his_ sister was worried sick over everyone.

"Why didn't you tell anyone, oneesama?" Setsuna mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

Sonozaki was, at best, drawing a total blank. "About what, Setsuna-kun?"

"About what our father did to you!" Setsuna snarled, her eyes still puffy but now blazing in anger. "About all the experiments, about _ripping your soul to bits_ so you'd be a better weapon for whoever could afford to hire you and put up with the strain you put on their magic when you needed help keeping yourself together…about all the _crap_ you had to deal with just because he wanted a 'perfect daughter'." The quotes around the phrase were almost audible.

Sonozaki blinked. She was at a complete loss.

"I saw the notes." Setsuna went on, practically ranting. "I saw his signature. _How could he do that to you_?"

"Sonozaki Toushiro is my father, yes, and the two of us are related through him," she finally said, very evenly, "and he wanted me to be the greatest warrior in our combined clans. He told me so."

"How old were you when he had your soul split?" Setsuna bit out.

"Six."

Setsuna looked completely horrified. She tried to put her sister at ease by remaining calm, but the green-haired girl was, if anything, more incensed. "You've been living with only a third of your soul for _seventeen years_? How is that even—oh hell, is _that_ why you know what soul anchors are?"

She nodded. "Yes."

Setsuna stared at her. Then she did something Sonozaki hadn't expected at all—she leapt forward and wrapped her arms around her sister's neck in a tight, secure hug.

It took a long, awkward moment, but she slowly responded by hugging her sister back. Setsuna gave a little sob and buried her face in her sister's short hair, the pressure increasing rather than diminishing. After a while, she carefully lifted the girl off the ground and carried her the rest of the way to the passenger compartments of the blimp. It wasn't hard—Setsuna weighed less than half of what Malik had.

"I'm sorry, Akiko-oneesama." Setsuna mumbled into her sister's shirt once they were in what passed for the lounge. Several of the duelists were already there, and giving them odd looks, but the blue-haired bodyguard would have dismissed them anyway if she'd noticed at all.

Akiko merely gave a sort of sigh and sat down in the nearest armchair. "It's fine, imouto-chan."

Oddly enough, she felt a little flare of warmth in her chest, though she had no idea what it meant.

* * *

And that was the end of Battle City. It was the end of a long trial for nearly everyone involved.

Seto would give up Duel Monsters for a few weeks to concentrate on his company and getting over his loss. Mokuba would be there for him, while Sonozaki and Setsuna were there to keep them both safe and sane. Yugi would activate the Egyptian ritual designed to give his partner his memories back. Anzu and Jounouchi would be there for him when it came time to give up his closest friend. Shizuka would head back to her mother, giving Honda and Otogi motivation to pine for her. Mai would take off on a world tour in dueling, secure in the knowledge that she always had at least one crazy town to belong to. Malik, Ishizu, and Rishid would return to Egypt, free of a malicious leech of a spirit. The Ghouls would disband.

And life goes on.

But it's not the end of this story, not by a long shot.

* * *

Deep in the underbelly of the world, underneath several miles of ocean and ocean floor, there was a terrible rumble from a crevasse in the Pacific. Below where any mortal eyes could see, green light flooded the deep and there was a low, malevolent growl.

Far above, in the CEO's office of a company called Doma, a green-haired man clasped his hands, interweaving his long fingers, and cast a contemplative look toward the sea. Gold and teal gleamed in the lightning-streaked darkness.

Deeply amused by the petty chatter he could hear from far below and from those he had already fed to his monstrous master, Dartz merely inclined his head at the ancient creature. He would fall down in true worship of its magnificence in time. Now, there was work to do.

He picked up his office phone and dialed a number.

"What do you require, Dartz-sama?" came a triad of voices from the other end. His most loyal followers were listening avidly to his every word. The skilled, loyal Raphael, the fiercely devoted (if not obsessive) Amelda, and the convenient tool of a thug known as Valon.

Dartz smiled, catlike, in the shadows of his office. It would soon be time to call his master to this world, for the first time since its arrival to this wretched world in the days of Atlantis. "It's time to begin the hunt."

* * *

**A/N:** And off we go to the modified Doma arc!

This is actually the shortest chapter in a while, and I'm sorry if it seems kind of disjointed-it's easier for me to work in scenes than in chapters, I guess.


	11. Beginning Of Another

**Chapter Eleven: Beginning of Another**

**A/N: **sorry about being so late, but I have finals and things and...yeah. You know what, just have fun.

* * *

Evening found the Kaiba brothers and the Sonozaki sisters in various places around the office.

Two weeks since the end of Battle City, and the oppressive silence still only abated when Setsuna and Mokuba disappeared to the arcade for a few hours to spend the last days of their break in peace. Mokuba won most of the time, regardless of whether it was a racing game, fighting game, or even a fishing game—the only game Setsuna could beat him at was Duel Monsters, and that was mostly because he didn't have his own deck.

Mokuba was not looking forward to the start of the new school semester at all. He went to a private junior high, not a public one, and he'd be back to work on those pointless assignments within days. After Battle City (and pretty much everything else that had ever happened to him, now that Mokuba thought about it), normal life was pretty dull. It was mostly a kid thing—frankly, though, Seto wasn't the slightest bit interested in the idea of being dragged back to Domino High either. He just didn't think about it as much, what with the sudden influx of new business crises to manage.

Setsuna, though, was spending every night studying like a maniac. Though the papers hadn't come through yet regarding whether Akiko was really her new legal guardian, she still had to pass the entrance exams to the local middle school before she would be able to get anything done. Apparently, she'd be homeschooled before and was taking the transition badly.

Akiko was the same as ever in Mokuba's opinion, though there would be little displays of emotion that weren't there before. It could just be his imagination, but it seemed like Akiko was a little warmer than she had been for the previous six months. Granted, she wasn't exactly impolite, but it almost seemed like she'd smile, at least if you saw her while she wasn't paying attention and in the right lighting. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking—Seto had been even more frigid than usual lately, so it could just be him looking for contrast.

Mokuba and Setsuna were both asleep on the couch in the Kaiba mansion sometime after two in the morning—one more night of videogames and candy before school!—when reality got yet another hole ripped in it.

Akiko was awake, though, and watched when the sky opened up and monsters of all stripes streamed out of the teal portal in the clouds. And then the flow reversed, with those same monsters being hurled back into the abyss. Somehow, she got the impression of a gaping maw beyond the clouds.

Then there was a great green-blue dragon in the sky, snarling and slashing with its huge claws. It opened its mouth and its energy breath, strong and hot as Godzilla's, lanced through the portal in the sky. There was the sensation of everything standing on end—like the ground after a lightning—and the sky exploded in a violent burst of light and noise. There was a squeak and a groan as Mokuba jolted awake and kicked Setsuna off the couch.

Seto didn't even bother looking up.

Akiko shrugged to herself and went back to knitting something that was supposed to be a hat, but was coming out as an extremely fat sock.

So much for starting the new arc with a bang.

* * *

It was supposed to be a (somewhat) normal day. It was just going to be a small advertisement gig—Setsuna had somehow arranged for the promotion of the new Duel Disk designs (now open to the public!) to include both her and Akiko in costume. It made a certain kind of sense—sex sells, after all, though KaibaCorp generally used the weight of its reputation rather than any crass displays—but it was also kind of embarrassing for the Kaiba brothers.

Akiko didn't really seem to mind the fact that she was dressed as the Shadow Tamer (of all monsters, it just had to be such a weak creature…), and Setsuna was happy enough pretending to be the Witch's Apprentice monster, but it was a long day for everyone. They went back to the Kaiba mansion (eventually) and settled down for cleanup and going over the day's sums.

Then the trouble started.

It began with Setsuna calling Yugi out of the blue and demanding to know what the hell he'd done recently that made monsters fall out of the sky. It turned out (after much prying) that all three Egyptian God Cards had been stolen.

Then KaibaCorp stocks were being bought out at an astronomical rate—soon enough, Industrial Illusions owned its fellow gaming company and Seto was utterly furious. And slightly confused, because after the original retirement of its CEO, Industrial Illusions had lost huge percentages of its own capital. They shouldn't have had the money to even put a dent in Seto and Mokuba's controlling share.

"Oh, and there's some company called Doma rising through the ranks that seems designed to piss us off." Setsuna said, clapping her hands to mark the finality of the statement. She clicked the laptop shut. "So, what're we gonna do about it?"

Seto scowled and stood up from his desk. "Mokuba, get the jet ready. We're taking this up with Pegasus, now." He promptly disappeared into the next room.

"Gotcha, niisama!" And then Mokuba disappeared as well.

Setsuna turned to Akiko, who was leaning against Seto's desk and coiling up the kangaroo-leather whip she'd been given for the occasion. "Oneesama, I don't think we're going to have time to change."

Akiko rolled one armored shoulder and shook her head as if the long hair extensions bothered her. "True. In any case, we should go. Pegasus J. Crawford was once a holder of the Millennium Eye, and I have no intention of allowing him to strike at bocchan again."

Setsuna just rolled her eyes and wondered how long _this_ detour would take. Pulling her PDA out of the folds of her Witch's Apprentice costume, she turned it on. A tiny face appeared on the screen, looking bored, and Setsuna smiled. "Evening, Noa-chan. It looks like the android body for you is going to take a little longer than expected."

The memory-heavy program that had once been Kaiba Noa rolled his eyes. "I've waited seven years, Setsuna. A few more months doesn't make much of a difference."

And they were off, blissfully unaware that Yugi and friends were heading the same way.

* * *

It turned out that Pegasus wanted to duel.

Setsuna, having the approximate attention span of a gnat, promptly ran off to go exploring with NOA (which she claimed stood for something very technical, just to see what she could get away with). Akiko, fixing Pegasus with a gaze like a cutting torch, slowly faded back out of the hallway while Seto and Pegasus were busy mauling each other's decks, since Mokuba obviously wasn't going to leave his brother behind anyway and Akiko needed a better angle to attack from, if it came down to it. Eventually, that meant that she wound up following Setsuna around as the still-costumed girl explored.

"Noa-chan, can you download the blueprints to this place?" Setsuna asked her voice-in-a-box, just to see if he'd respond without her using the keys.

The boy in the PDA glanced at her, obviously bored out of his skull. "Depends. Do I get to take over the hologram system?"

Setsuna paused. "Akiko-oneesama, what do you think?"

The woman gave a nod. "Be sure to be as distracting as possible to Crawford-san. We will need the opening to keep him from causing any more damage."

Noa smirked nastily. "Of course."

Setsuna had an equally evil smirk of her own, and promptly plugged the PDA-with-a-person into the nearest computer terminal. As soon as Noa had managed to infiltrate the system to his satisfaction, he waved them off and the Sonozaki sisters disappeared down the hall.

* * *

Meanwhile, Seto was dealing with what was about the closest he'd ever get to a religious experience. Partway through the duel with the imposter Pegasus (whose name was apparently Amelda and who looked more like a woman than Bakura did), Seto had realized that he was completely and utterly _screwed_. With the Seal of Orichalcos field card strengthening all of Amelda's monsters, as well as doubling their numbers, Seto was metaphorically backed into a corner.

But they say that a cornered rat is at its most dangerous, and a cornered dragon is a thousand times worse.

In Seto's case, salvation came in the form of another dragon.

In fact, to Seto, religion was probably dragon-shaped, too.

While he had no idea why he was floating around a crystalline tower in his mindscape that looked a lot like what people _thought_ Roman temples looked like back in their prime, he did understand two things. One, the Black Magician Girl giving him orders was profoundly irritating. Two, there was a dragon frozen in front of him, and its power was calling.

"Free Critias, Seto," the guide ordered, her voice almost shrill.

Seto floated upward—okay, it was probably one of his less-sane dreams, overall—and grasped the hilt of the sword sticking out of the crystallized dragon's throat. He pulled.

The sword came free easily, sliding out of the stone with so little resistance that Seto thought he could have let gravity do the work and it still would have done the job, and then the crystal started to glow, and then crack.

Shattering its white stone prison into dust like so much snow, the huge black dragon lowered its head crowned in spines, as if it wanted Seto to put his hand against its nose. Its scales shone like mirrors, and Seto saw his face reflected in the beast's deep blue eyes. Those eyes held a challenge, and Seto wouldn't be a Kaiba if he didn't rise to it.

The Black Magician Girl smiled and raised her wand. "Critias, rise and protect your master!"

Critias roared, seeming to send out shockwaves from the sheer power of its voice. Seto held up a hand, feeling the sound shake the bones in his arm, and everything faded to white.

When he opened his eyes again, Amelda was still throwing out taunts and Mokuba was still shouting angrily back. Apparently, he hadn't drawn his card yet. _What's the point? Aside from the hallucination…_ Seto stopped.

The card he'd drawn was a sort of teal color, almost like a Ritual- or Magic-type card. Only the image on it convinced him that it wasn't a piece of junk—sitting on the card, its triangular face tilted slightly away from him but its spiked body in full view, was Critias. He read its effect. He smirked evilly, not knowing that such an expression apparently ran in the family.

_Best. Hallucination. Ever._

* * *

Amelda managed to get away clean, and with his soul intact.

Sort of.

He would probably never know that the Sonozaki sisters, in the spirit of cheating and combat-based pragmatism, had managed to sneak a tracking device onto his motorcycle. Or that the monsters that had been chasing him through the hallways and the cameras tracking his escape had been under the complete control of the virtual ghost of one Kaiba Noa.

And if he ever found out, by then it would probably be too late.

Hell hath no fury like a ninja on the prowl.

* * *

Somehow, it turned out that Yugi and his friends were also on Duelist Kingdom for some reason, scouring Pegasus's castle out of some belief that he actually wasn't enough of a bastard to screw with them _that_ badly and that he actually was in pretty deep trouble with those Orichalcos thugs. Or dead. Apparently the rumors of his death were greatly exaggerated.

Yugi, Jounouchi, Honda, Anzu, Otogi, Haga, and Ryuuzaki were all there, too, and Seto scowled fiercely just from the realization. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he hated them all.

Granted, they were already in Pegasus's inner sanctum by the time they ran into the others, so Mokuba and Seto were too busy being _in_ the situation to be worried about how they were going to get out. Unnoticed by everyone, Noa managed to trip one of the other programs running rampant through the building and activated another hologram.

So, that was how the Pegasus hologram activated, and how the recording managed to both be obnoxiously vague and hideously overbearing in one go. Which is to say, he was acting pretty much exactly like everyone remembered him; flamboyant, slightly dim, and smug. He mentioned something about how he had created some card that would either stop or severely hinder the biker gang, but by that point Seto had stopped paying attention. Mokuba was confused, Akiko was pointedly ignoring everything but Insector Haga and Dinosaur Ryuuzaki (who she had seen trying to steal things), and Setsuna was talking to the ghost in her handheld machine. Yugi ended up taking the blank card, mostly because no one else seemed to want the damn thing, and they all split off.

This was mostly because Kaiba was not even the slightest bit interested in listening to Yugi's "Let's save the world together" speech and had fled at the first opportunity.

* * *

All in all, the Kaiba entourage left Duelist Kingdom disappointed—Mokuba was wondering what the hell Amelda's problem was, Seto was sullenly thinking over why his hallucinations were now crossing over into reality, Setsuna was bored, and Akiko was too busy using Noa's tracking function to figure out where the hell Amelda had gone to meet up with his little biker buddies to talk.

"What do you bet this is going to mean we have to go to America?" Setsuna finally asked Mokuba, looking out the private jet's window.

Mokuba blinked at her. "I know Amelda had an accent, but what makes you think—?"

Noa's PDA prison beeped loudly. "Airfare payment confirmed for Mutou Yugi, Mazaki Anzu, Jounouchi Katsuya, Honda Hiroto, and Bakura Ryou. Paid for by Otogi Ryuuji. Three further ticket purchases confirmed—Otogi Ryuuji, Haga Insector, and Ryuuzaki Dinosaur. Destination: San Francisco."

There was a long pause. "Never mind then," said Mokuba. "Are we going to follow them or let them get killed on their own?"

Seto managed to give them all a death glare without actually turning to look at them. "We're going home, Mokuba."

"Okay, niisama."

About a minute later, Setsuna leaned over conspiratorially and said, "A hundred yen says we end up going anyway."

"No bet," said Mokuba. He knew how the universe worked well enough to know better.

* * *

Living in San Francisco was not exactly the most peaceful existence possible. Sure, the hills only made you think that gravity was out for your blood _some_ of the time, the city was possibly one of the most liberal-minded places in the United States short of…somewhere, the weather was mostly mild, and the Chinatown was big enough to have eaten another, smaller city and not noticed—but up until about three days ago, the city was mostly normal. For a given value of normal, anyway.

Then there was the night monsters fell from the sky.

Since then, people had been wary and confused. There had been stories that the same thing had happened over in Japan, but KaibaCorp had been blamed for the incident. In San Francisco, it wasn't like they could blame Microsoft or something—only the Silicon Valley eggheads were closer, but neither had been involved with hologram programs the best anyone could tell.

Mana had just been bored.

Mana was about six or so, and a leading candidate for "most scatterbrained Japanese-American kindergartener ever." She had blue hair done up in odango buns—or Mickey Mouse ears—and bright blue eyes that would have startled anyone who'd met her mother, since the doctor shared neither of those traits. Besides the fact that she was Japanese, too. It just seemed that she'd hit the "weird hair" genetic jackpot.

"Niichan, Mana's bored," said Mana in a whine, sticking her head over the side of her bunk to look down at her brother's bed. He was reading something.

"Mana, niichan's busy. Algebra homework," said Mana's twelve-year-old brother, Ryuuto. If there was ever a pair of siblings who looked less alike, the universe was at a loss to suggest one. Ryuuto had unruly red hair and angular green eyes. Only the shape of his face kept him from looking more Irish than Japanese. "You're not supposed to be awake right now anyway."

"But niichan, maybe the monsters will come back if Mana keeps awake." Mana protested, flopping back onto her bed. "Some of them were cute!"

Ryuuto sighed. "Imouto-chan, if the monsters come back, they'll be shot out of the sky. San Diego's the biggest US Navy base anywhere and the Air Force doesn't like competing for airspace."

Mana pouted. Her brother always seemed to know things that made it really hard for her to just imagine things. He was usually mean about it. "That's not nice, niichan."

"Neither is letting you or Mom get eaten by monsters." Ryuuto said bluntly. "I don't want them coming back."

"Aww." But Mana could usually recognize defeat. If her brother wouldn't be nice to her about the monsters, she could just go see Mom. She started to climb down the ladder to escape, but she hadn't thought quite everything through. Ryuuto had apparently gotten up and stood at the bottom of the ladder, waiting for her to climb down like he knew she would.

Ryuuto caught her before she could climb back up to pout. Even though he was a little small compared to the boys in his school, he was a lot bigger than she was. While she squirmed, he said, "Also, Mana, Mom said it was time for you to go to bed like an hour ago. She doesn't need you in the lab making stuff blow up."

"Niichan's no fun!" Mana grumbled as her brother picked her up and, climbing onto the lower bunk for height, dropped her back in her own bed.

"Imouto-chan, it's time for bed. Look, the tutor's just here for a few more days and I'll be done with the work by then." Mana paused. Her brother didn't sound smug or anything, just kind of tired. "We'll go to the zoo with Mom after, okay? We've only got a week of summer vacation left and then you'll be a first-grader. Then you and I will both be too busy to do anything fun for _months_."

Mana grumbled for a bit longer, but eventually agreed that there weren't many other plans. With her brother skipping a grade to head into eighth, he'd be busier and have to keep up with kids two years older than he was. She wasn't going to be able to play with him for much longer.

"Promise?" Mana asked suddenly, while her brother had just been planning to leave the room for a late night snack.

"Yeah, I promise." There was a dismissive tone in Ryuuto's voice that she didn't like, and she had to do something about that.

"Pinky swear it." Mana said, holding out her hand.

Ryuuto turned back, a little surprised but not looking like he wouldn't do it. "Okay. Let me get up there."

So, with Mana sitting on the edge of her bunk and her brother standing on his, they both held out their pinkies.

There was supposed to be a bit of ceremony about it, but Mana only remembered part of it. "…and if you're lying, you have to swallow a thousand needles!"

Ryuuto's expression became sort of blank, like he was trying not to smile. "A thousand needles, then. And hope for a good surgeon if I fail."

Mana didn't even notice his sarcasm, too elated to finally have something new to look forward to. She couldn't remember going to the zoo in ages, and she'd heard that they'd got new animals recently. She couldn't wait.

Ryuuto slipped quietly out of the room, turning the lights off as he went. Mana was asleep, dreaming of tiger cubs, by the time he'd finished asking his mother for permission to go to the zoo next week.

Ryuuto smiled wryly and went back to his homework. Only a few more problems and he'd be done.

* * *

Yugi and his friends were, of course, on a plane to America. They were going to track down those biker morons and deliver unto them a royal asskicking.

(Visiting Professor Hopkins was a distant second.)

Well, that was how Yami felt about it anyway. He'd been spending an inordinate amount of time ranting since the God cards had been stolen, and Yugi was the only one who could hear him when Setsuna wasn't around, so it meant that the boy was getting a royal headache.

Yugi sighed. _Other me, can you keep it down a little?_

_Why?_ At least his anger was directed at someone other than Yugi, but when the Pharaoh didn't have a target he tended to use Yugi as a sounding board for his frustrations. Yugi was used to being the spirit's therapist, but for an entire nine-hour flight? Even he knew where to draw the line. _Oh…sorry about that. It's just…well, I wish they'd stick around long enough for me to shut them down._

_Don't we all?_

It was Yami's turn to sigh. _Yes, but this is the first time I've been unable to at least slow the criminal down._

_That's not your fault._ Yugi said mentally. _For whatever reason, the Puzzle just doesn't work in that Orichalcos thing. Maybe their powers cancel each other out?_

_Possibly. I wish I could be sure._ Yami said wistfully. _My memories are so fragmented I'd be lucky to remember my own name. Magical theory is a bit beyond me._

_Maybe we can ask someone._ A spark had shone in his head—a face, a name. _When we get on the ground, I'll see if we can call the Sonozaki sisters. They might not be Item holders, but they'd at least be able to steer us in the right direction. They're all about magical theory, right?_

_Or we can ask Ishizu. She used to be an Item user._ Yami had never liked Akiko, and it was starting to show. Yugi maintained his opinion that they creeped one another out.

_Except she only knew what she did because of the Tauk._ Yugi said. _She thinks mostly in history, not rituals and things like hat._ _And besides, bothering the Ishtars now seems insensitive, after everything that happened._

Yami mumbled something incomprehensible from his soul room.

_Besides, I don't have a phone card for Egypt and if I tried calling and ran up a huge cell phone bill, jiichan would kill me._

Yugi was _sure_ he heard snickering.

_All right. _Yami said. _It couldn't hurt much, at least._

"_Much?"_

Anzu glanced at Yugi from the next seat, and it was hard not to tell that he was talking to Yami again—whenever he did, he made the oddest expressions while the spirit made fun of him. Still, she'd made a deal with Jounouchi to avoid bothering Yugi for the first hour of the flight—Yami seemed to have that angle covered. Instead of bothering the pair, Anzu asked the flight attendant for a blanket and resolved to leave the issue for later.

* * *

"Does anyone here know how to speak English?" Setsuna asked once they were back in Domino, having changed out of her costume and into her pajamas. Like with Mokuba, if a preteen in Seto's favor was running around in striped nightclothes, nobody in the building was going to be the one to yell at them about it.

"_Why are you asking?_" Seto asked in nearly perfect English—there was a bit of an accent, but only something a native English speaker would notice. Setsuna wasn't and didn't.

But then, maybe all that homeschooling counted for something. "_I'm telling you, we're going to end up going to America eventually, if only to yell at Yugi for something stupid._"

Seto suspected that the green-haired girl was getting used to his death glares—Mokuba ignored them because he knew he wasn't going to get any worse than that, Sonozaki was probably such an utter failure at basic human interaction that she wouldn't recognize hostility until someone hit her over the head with a brick, and Setsuna just didn't seem to have any self-preservation instincts. "Oh really?"

"I might be new to Domino, but it's not hard to figure out the patterns this city runs on—something weird happens, usually around Yugi, then you get dragged in, and the rest of the world follows." Setsuna said in a tone bordering on rude. "And anyway, since those guys have the three God cards, don't you think Yugi might end up getting stomped by them?"

_Might_. Maybe. As in not probable, but also not outside the realm of possibility. Still, the thought had made gears start to turn in Seto's head. He scowled.

He didn't like it when someone who looked half his age felt like they could manipulate him—or, hell, even if they were twice his age! He'd been a pragmatic and ruthless businessman since fourteen because he was nearly impossible to outthink and could compartmentalize his thoughts easily—he could think ten steps ahead of everyone else, if need be. That was what being a genius meant.

Setsuna was a different kind of mind in a tiny body—selfish and shameless, with no mind for programming. But where she lacked in computer savvy, she made up for in expertise he didn't have. She could interact with people easily when she looked like an innocent little kid—much like Mokuba could, actually—and she'd tested well in areas perfect for engineering and mechanical repair. And when you got down to it, she got most things done by manipulating other people. Seto could work with that, but directed at him?

_Not this time, brat. If you're going to work for me, you need to learn who the boss is._

Seto upped the intensity of his glare.

At that moment, Setsuna's cell phone rang. She answered it, totally dismissing the earlier confrontation once the person on the other end started chatting. "Yugi-kun? Hi, I—what? _Again_ with the magical card games? Don't you and your talking headache ever get bored with—no, I wasn't trying to be mean."

Apparently, the King of Games had his most insubordinate employee's phone number. Typical.

"Eh? Uh, I'll have to look that up—you said you were in San Francisco? And you've already had another run-in with those weirdoes…present company excluded, yeah…" She was looking out the window for a moment, then she started to pace.

Did she ever _shut up_?

"Yugi, we just got back from the damn island a few hours ago. Kaiba-kun says we're not going anywhere until this Doma thing gets sorted out." Another rapid burst of Japanese from Yugi's end of the line. Setsuna blinked. "Are we talking industrial sabotage or industrial espionage?"

Seto paid attention in spite of himself, while wondering a little where the hell a twelve-year-old would have learned about the cutthroat corporate world.

"So, there are three of those biker guys—which one went after you the first time? …Raphael? …That had better not have been the guy in the belly shirt—oh, okay. Yeah, the redhead's name was Amelda, I think."

Sharing information with _them_? Ugh.

"So the last guy's Valon…yeah. I'll look them up." Setsuna pulled her PDA out of her pocket and started rapidly entering names, holding her cell against her shoulder with the side of her head. "All right. I don't think a bunch of thugs would be listed on Doma's payroll, but I'll look anyway. Never know what you can find in weird places nowadays. Thanks, Yugi-kun." _Beep_.

"Well?" Seto asked, raising an eyebrow as Setsuna typed on her PDA and stuffed her phone back into her pajama pocket.

"It looks like Amelda and the other thugs work for Doma." Setsuna said. She yawned.

Yeah, he'd gotten that much—an idiot would have, given that Setsuna apparently loved repeating what people said. That wasn't important.

"I don't doubt that getting lawyers involved will just slow things down." Seto said dryly. "Suing the three of those idiots for burglary, assault, and battery, if they work for Doma? It'll take months. That's time KaibaCorp doesn't have."

"That's if it even gets to the courts." Setsuna grumbled. "And anyway, the main charge is _being stupid_, and even you can't get a lawyer to convict over that."

"Yes, I know. Otherwise the mutt would already be in prison." Seto said. "Crossing KaibaCorp is high on the list of "'Stupidest Things I Might Survive If I'm Lucky and The CEO Is in a Good Mood,' anyway."

"Yeah, but I wasn't really talking about just that." Setsuna said. She frowned. "I mean, who'd be dumb enough to get on Yugi's bad side anymore? Practically everyone who tries messing with him gets their brains blown out by 'parlor tricks.' I heard he used nitroglycerin one time and the guy spent two months in the hospital after they got the broken glass out. Something about third degree burns and physical therapy."

Okay…this was new. And knowing Yugi as he did, Seto realized that she was referring to his nigh-homicidal alter ego, who had mostly grown out of his tendency toward overkill.

_Mostly_.

"Anyway, I wouldn't like to be one of those idiots after Yami catches them." Setsuna yawned again. "Anyway, I'm tired now."

Seto ignored her as she walked out of his office, thinking quickly. He knew that Yugi had a particularly nasty split personality and that other personality was happy to destroy anything that threatened his host. The idea that it would act on its own was a bit worrying, but Seto reminded himself that the other personality—they called him Yami? Cliché much—only ever seemed to confront people over card games. Harmless enough, right?

Except…Seto knew how vicious the darker side could be. He'd nearly gone insane after that hallucination after their first duel…

"Kaiba-sama." Seto looked up to see the older Sonozaki standing by his desk.

"What is it?" he demanded.

"According to the international news report, monsters have continued to appear around the globe since last night. While the media is no longer blaming KaibaCorp publicity stunts—we don't have any branches in Cairo, after all—our stocks have taken another hit."

Seto narrowed his eyes and said flatly, "You're sure."

"Yes, Kaiba-sama," she said, red eyes gleaming in the darkness. "There is no mistake. There have also been reports that the organization called Doma has ordered one of its dummy companies to begin an investigation on us. Publicly."

Seto's left eye twitched. "Really."

"Yes, sir."

…_I'm going to kill him._ Who the "him" in question was, not even Seto knew. But he was going to track down whoever was responsible for his and his company's problems, corner him in an alley, and beat him to death with a crowbar.

Of course, lawsuits would be a much better revenge. Death by a thousand cuts.

It only got worse over the next day.

* * *

Mana probably didn't know the first thing about Duel Monsters—Ryuuto was sure his sister had never even seen a match before. That didn't stop her when it came to watching them, though. The redhead assumed it had something to do with how the hologram duels tended to be flashy, but he wasn't sure.

Anyway, someone had decided to challenge someone else in the middle of the park while Mana and Ryuuto were walking home from the corner store, and of course his sister had to stop and watch. She'd even managed to beg a candy bar off of him and was happily devouring the chocolate as she watched the blonde woman duel someone. Whoever the other person was, it didn't seem important—Ryuuto was old enough to appreciate the view.

"Good luck, Kujaku-neechan!" Mana cheered. Well, that decided who Mana was a fan of. Mai Kujaku was beautiful—or sexy, either way Ryuuto didn't have any problem with it—and her monsters were all female or birds or both. Mana had always liked magical girl shows like _Sailor Moon_, so it was no wonder she loved the female duelist's choices.

About ten minutes later, Mana was enthusiastically shaking Kujaku's hand, bouncing up and down like a girl on a trampoline. "That was awesome, neechan!"

"It wasn't really _that_ big of a deal." Mai said modestly. "He was a bit of a small fry."

Mana's eyes went wide. "Wow, really?" Kujaku had probably never had a more enraptured audience.

Ryuuto, who had watched the loser skulk off like a kicked puppy, shrugged. "So you go on dueling circuits?"

"You bet." Mai was smiling. Ryuuto managed to avoid thinking about the butterflies in his stomach, but just barely. "Being a professional duelist has its perks. Most of them happen to involve a wonderful travel package and lots of money. Do either of you two play?"

"Mana can't." Mana said with a pout. "Mama says no."

Ryuuto gave a wry sort of smile. "I mostly play in school with a Beast deck. I'm not really any good."

"Well, I'm sure you can get better." Mai announced, ruffling Ryuuto's hair and making his stomach do backflips. "Just keep working on it and, if you ever end up rich like Seto Kaiba, buy all the booster packs you can. Who knows? Maybe I might end up dueling one or both of you on the circuit someday."

Mai left, humming some song to herself. Mana went back to her candy as though nothing had happened. Ryuuto was left with a lot of bad ideas.

Such is the life when dealing with celebrities.

* * *

**A/N:** In case you're wondering who Mana and Ryuuto are...well, meet the Doma arc's peanut gallery.

And while they may be slightly more important than that in the long run, it shouldn't be by much.


	12. Mysticism and Motorbikes

**Chapter Twelve: Mysticism and Motorbikes**

**A/N: **Alliteration is awesome.

Can you spot all the references?

* * *

Their arrival in America was less dangerous and disconcerting than they had thought it would be. This was partially because Otogi had more than a few business contacts in the area they could ask for help finding hotel rooms, partly because Haga and Ryuuzaki had both disappeared almost immediately, and mostly because Kujaku Mai was there to meet them at the airport. Jou and Mai got back to cheerfully arguing each other to pieces while everyone struggled with the luggage and loaded it into Otogi's rental cars.

"So, how's life been since Battle City?" Mai asked curiously, one arm slung over Anzu's shoulder. "Landed any sponsorships?"

"'Sponsorship?' What for?" Yugi was too small to help lift the mammoth suitcase Anzu had brought along, so Honda and Jounouchi were busy trying to force it into the trunk. That left the smaller teenager with nothing to do for a few moments. Bakura was just standing around, confused and flailing occasionally whenever the nearest suitcase looked like it was going to explode in his face under the pressure of the car's frame.

"For dueling. When you get really famous, people will pay you for running around the globe and going to tournaments. And beating people, of course." Mai smiled and it was full of mischief. "And there's no one more famous than the King of Games."

"Oh…um, I hadn't really thought of it before." Yugi admitted. Not with the fate of the world on his shoulders every flipping week.

_I'd suggest finding a place to get a massage if you were less ticklish._ Yami told him silently. _You really are too hard on yourself._

"You should." Mai said. "Not everyone can get into college, and if you've got what it takes to be a star, use it."

Anzu sighed. "Mai, we're just going to start third year. We still have a long time to think about that."

"Sure thing, Twinkletoes." Mai shrugged and let go of Anzu's shoulders. "Anyway, it's just a thought. So, what are you all doing in America if you're not on tour? Otogi just called and said you happened to be coming over, not why."

_I think she respects magic enough that she'd believe us more than Kaiba would._ Yami put in. _Though that really isn't saying much…_

Yugi sent a needle of impatience back at the spirit. _Quiet. I still remember how you kept me up for nine hours singing "It's A Small World After All."_

_It wasn't the __**entire**__ time—I only did it when the food cart was coming around. You said you'd be hungry._

_That was about every hour, __**on the hour**__. I'm not Jounouchi!_

"We're trying to stop another maniac out to rule the world." Anzu said before Yugi could sort out his thoughts and reply. "Only I guess this guy's more like Kaiba if what we heard was right."

"What, huge ego, no social skills, obviously is compensating for something and has way too much money?"

"Yep," said Yugi, trying to ignore the way Yami was laughing in the background.

"Sounds fun. Give me a call if you need any help." Mai smirked. "I'm always up for beating people up at card games."

"Thanks, Mai." Anzu said. "I think we might need it."

"Anytime." Mai said, pulling her phone out to call for a cab. "Anyway, the boys got all your stuff in the trunk, so it's about time for you to get going. See you around."

Yugi nodded. "Bye."

Just then, Yugi's phone rang. He glanced down—the caller ID said it was Setsuna. But when he answered it, the voice on the line was much older and calmer than the girl had ever been.

Akiko.

_This is getting more and more interesting._ Yami said, and smiled like a cat. _Plans within plans, plots within plots…_

Yugi groaned. _And massive cell phone bills. _

_

* * *

_

"I don't see what the big problem is here." Valon said impatiently. Amelda had managed to glue himself to the computer and had been there ever since he'd gotten back from Duelist Kingdom—apparently, the first duel with Kaiba had been a bust. So much for vengeance. Amelda was a moron. "All you need to do is grab him while he's not paying attention and use the Seal on him right off the bat. If he doesn't have his deck, he's dead."

"I would," Amelda snapped back, "if he was _ever_ alone. It takes time to throw down with bodyguards and you know how long it takes for the Seal to work. I'd be dead before I ever got close."

"So what? If he's flying international, we can fake the crew and passengers and just corner him when he feels like he's safe." Valon said flippantly. "Kaiba might be one of the best Duelists in the world, but he's also a seventeen-year-old punk who's built like a goddamn scarecrow."

"And so am I." Amelda scowled. "And then there's the sycophants he's got following him around all damn day."

"What, his kid brother and a couple bodyguards?" Valon snorted. "Like that's a big deal."

"According to Doma's most recent report, he only travels with his brother, his brother's bodyguard, and her little sister." Amelda grumbled. He wanted to put a fist through the screen every time he saw Seto Kaiba's face, but that would be a waste of company resources and would probably land him in hot water with Dartz. "The kids aren't important, but her…what the hell makes Kaiba think he can run around with only one thug?"

"Who knows? Maybe the girls are trained assassins or Kaiba's got a harem." Valon said dismissively. "Either way, it makes your job easier."

Amelda frowned. "It's suspicious."

"No, it's _stupid_." Valon said mockingly. "Shut up and take advantage of it."

Okay. That was _it_.

Amelda punched Valon in the face for being a nosy asshole with too much time to talk.

He split the first two knuckles on his left hand, but he also broke Valon's nose.

_**So**__ worth it._

_

* * *

_

"Dig site?" Ryuuto asked, tilting his head a little in confusion. There was, if he had to find a word for it, a _caravan_ of rental cars heading out into the desert. He and Mana had just been waiting at a bus stop for the next shuttle out to their mother's excavation team's landing zone. Lily was a prominent archeologist/chemist/anthropologist/omni-disciplinary scientist in the area. And these people, while all as full-blooded Japanese as Ryuuto or Mana, were foreigners asking for directions. "There are about fifty of them in the next two hundred miles. Who's the head researcher?"

There was a brief argument in the car. Then the teenager with white hair stuck his head out the passenger window and said, in a British accent, "Er…Professor Hopkins?"

Mana blinked. "Who?"

"Professor Hopkins is at Site 23 with his granddaughter, Rebecca." Ryuuto said. "Do you guys have a map? I could point it out."

"_What did he say?_" asked the girl with brown hair and blue eyes, who sat near the back of the second car.

"_Site 23_," said the black-haired, green-eyed teenager who was driving. "_Hey, out of you guys, who got passing grades in English?_"

One hand went up besides that of the white-haired boy in front.

"_Okay then_. Bakura, you do the talking."

Ryuuto interrupted with, "_Anyway, site 23's only about five miles up the road. The numbering scheme's off. Just make sure to turn left when you see the funny cactus._"

"Funny cactus?" Bakura repeated in English, just to make sure he'd heard correctly.

"You'll know it when you see it. It's like twelve feet tall, so it's hard to miss."

"Thank you for your help."

"No problem. Just don't go breaking things on the sites or else Mom'll try to kill you with a shovel." Ryuuto said seriously. "She's the one in charge of all the sites." Well, she actually probably wouldn't, but she could get pretty mad about broken pottery and no one liked to see Lily Yamamoto in a bad mood. Most of their neighbors could testify to that.

Bakura blanched. "That's…er… Goodbye."

Was it just his imagination, or did all of the cars peel away at high speed?

"Weirdoes," said Mana, and that was the end of that.

* * *

Following what they would later dub the Funny Cactus Route (which was, indeed, funny. For a certain value thereof), they managed to find Professor Hopkins within twenty minutes. To no one's surprise, he was staying in a trailer at the dig site—which seemed to involve either ancient Native American artifacts or a really big rock like the one Ishizu had been following around; no one was really sure which it was, mostly because Bakura was also stumped.

They _were_ surprised to find that Rebecca was also in the area, but slightly less so once she cannoned into Yugi and clamped on like a vice.

Yugi was the one who had to explain things—he was the only one familiar with the workings of the Millennium Items because of a mutually beneficial spirit-host arrangement. He was also the only one of their group (who wasn't Jounouchi) who had fought one of the biker thugs' friends and seen the power of their ritual for himself. He ended up saying a lot about how Pegasus had disappeared, that the Egyptian God cards had been stolen, and the magic that seemed to have led all of them to this point. "…and that's all we know. Also, there were a couple of kids back there who said their mother was in charge of all of the dig sites around here?"

The professor seemed to be thinking hard about all of the information, which took long enough that Yugi noticed that his arm was starting to go numb in Rebecca's grip.

"Ryuuto and Mana? Yes, they're Director Lily Yamamoto's children. They often come to the dig sites to visit their mother." Professor Hopkins shook his head. "Regarding these strange men you mentioned…did any of them, by any chance, mention the Seal of Orichalcos?"

"Yeah, they did." Yugi thought it over. "They mostly used the playing card called the Seal of Orichalcos, and the Millennium Puzzle couldn't break the spell involved when they used it. And not to mention that this Orichalcos thing seems to eat souls like a Shadow Game."

_It also seems to use many of the same rules as Shadow magic_, Yami put in silently. _Though I've never heard of a Game being invoked by a card alone._

Professor Hopkins frowned. "I wonder, are they carrying some kind of tool that activates the ritual?"

"How about a ring?" Jounouchi suggested. At the others' confused looks, he added, "I saw the big blonde guy use a green rock on a ring to break the Seal once Valon got in over his head."

"Fascinating," said the professor. "Do you think it can be used inside the Seal if the user is losing?"

Yugi thought about the first Orichalcos-player he'd seen. "No. If it could, they'd never let their souls get taken."

The professor hemmed and hawed while Rebecca steadily increased pressure on Yugi's arm. It was really getting uncomfortable.

"Why is it always souls?" Honda wondered aloud. "First the evil Bakura—no offense—and sticking our souls in lead miniatures, then Pegasus and his 'bwa-ha-ha I have your soul in a playing card' trick, then Malik and mind control, and now a glowing circle that steals souls without actually needing a duel."

As Bakura mumbled something that sounded a bit like, "No offense taken," Otogi just shrugged and said, "Hell if I know. I just drive you guys around."

"I have to do some research on this." Professor Hopkins said finally. "Everyone should get some sleep."

The teenagers, being completely jet-lagged, decided to listen to the good professor and take up camping out in the trailer, in Otogi's rental cars, or just outside.

* * *

Akiko almost never did any actual research, since she was the type who generally trusted her employer to give her as much information as was necessary to complete the mission. When it came to the holdings of KaibaCorp, however, she quickly found that she was getting an education in business and finance whether she wanted to learn or not.

Or at the least, hearing her employers fuss with stocks for hours at a time was making it impossible to drown the numbers out.

At one point, the older Kaiba had looked at her as though it was _her_ fault that the company was suddenly going under. In another lifetime, it might have been, but she had made her choice to stay with the Kaibas. Akiko had merely stared back, and he'd looked like he would have liked to snap at her. Then he stopped, because there was always something else about the dying company that needed managing.

She didn't blame him, but she didn't make excuses, either. Sooner or later, it would become necessary to confront the problem at its roots. They would find where Doma was getting its liquid funds. Depending on the legality of it, KaibaCorp would rip its rival apart; each and every cell pried from its twins, and set everything that remained ablaze.

Akiko could appreciate that kind of thinking. If there was a threat that declared itself such, eliminate it. Never allow it to survive and attack again.

As it was, if Mokuba was staying in Seto's office, Akiko saw no reason to act as anything other than the dutiful housekeeper. There wasn't much else she could do without being within arm's reach of that Amelda character and his friends. But once she _was_…

"So, that red-haired revenge-driven idiot is working for Doma." Seto mused aloud, staring out the window.

"Yes." Akiko said. She knew it because she had sent the CEO the information herself. It honestly hadn't been terribly surprising—it seemed like everything was being tied together into a neat little knot, and all they needed was a sword to cut through the center once untangling it all became too difficult.

Seto glanced at her, then went back to typing. His fingers flew across the keyboard so quickly that it all seemed to merge into one continuous tapping noise.

Akiko acknowledged the silent dismissal and left the room.

She wandered around a little, trying to figure out exactly what to do next, before giving up and heading toward her room. She was no business expert to begin with, and if a genius like Seto couldn't figure a way out of the financial bind, there was no way she could do anything. She could only punch things and, sometimes, clean the house without arousing suspicion.

She glanced out the window, to where the sky had opened up to monsters again. Honestly, she wasn't sure if normal people were really aware of the monsters appearing in public. She had heard that there was a sudden spike in the number of people being admitted to hospitals…though the reasons varied. If the monsters only came through every half hour, and in a random time and place, maybe their existence could be covered up.

Maybe.

"Sonozaki-san?" Akiko glanced back to find Mokuba looking at her curiously.

"Bocchan." Akiko murmured in acknowledgment. "Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just…" Mokuba frowned briefly, and Akiko felt a twinge of…something. She hadn't gotten emotions figured out yet. "It's getting really confusing now."

Akiko made a brief noise of agreement, though he didn't have to know why she found the entire situation confusing.

Mokuba sighed. "I'm going to bed. Good night, Sonozaki-san." He started to walk off in the vague direction of his room.

After a split second's hesitation, Akiko reached out and patted Mokuba on the head. She didn't know why he suddenly paused, turned back to give her a confused look, then ran off with a triumphant whoop, but at least he was happy.

Akiko just leaned against the wall, pondering life, the universe, and everything. Or, quite possibly, nothing. The sky looked stormy outside and she could see monsters, outlined in pinkish auras against the clouds, if she bothered to look. The lines between reality and fantasy were becoming muddled.

Later, Mokuba would brag to Setsuna about the sudden display of emotion, and Setsuna would grind her teeth in jealousy. And Akiko would remain utterly baffled.

* * *

Dartz had long since abandoned his aboveground office for the evening in favor of the Leviathan's temple. Seeing the stone dragon mouths around the central dais, each holding one of the Egyptian God cards, he couldn't help but smile. Each card had its own power—the power to break the barrier between the monsters' world and the mortal realm. They could cause immense destruction on their own…or they could be used to fuel _his_ chosen beast's reign of terror.

Dartz smiled, feeling the constant pressure of the Leviathan's will on the back of his mind—a constant reminder of how powerful Doma was, with such a creature backing it. It was the "god" that had granted them the Orichalcos with which to do its bidding, and with it came Dartz's own mastery of magic. Aside from his ten-thousand-year lifespan, there was no greater gift.

Content, the green-haired man gazed up at the stone walls, each segment marked with a single blank panel. Some—most—had small images carved into the stone, and if one looked closely, it would become apparent that every one of those little pictograms was a person, and that every one of them was screaming.

He approached the lowest segment of the wall, putting his hand against the carved image of a man pounding on the stone as though it were just a bulletproof glass barrier, rather than a dimensional wall.

After all, every carved person was one of the Orichalcos' victims, and all of them were drifting in the Leviathan's belly as it waited for the time to be released. There wasn't enough soul-energy yet, but there would be.

"The Pharaoh has no idea what awaits him here." Dartz murmured, still smiling faintly. "It's really rather amusing how utterly _blind_ he is." The soul-image under his fingertips seemed to wail in terror.

_The Pharaoh_… Dartz sneered. He'd seen the man's face before, as the battle-scarred knight Timaeus. Hermos, Jounouchi Katsuya's long-dead lookalike, and Critias, Seto Kaiba's…they had been loyal subjects until they had turned against the Leviathan and against the crown, under Dartz's own father. Striking them all down had been child's play.

Almost gently, he gave the magic of the stones a tug, and a tiny green sphere of light rolled into his hand. The image of the tormented man had vanished—his soul was momentarily free, for only as long as Dartz found it amusing to toy with it. The Leviathan wouldn't miss _this_ one, not as weak as it was turning out to be. Its body had died years ago, so it wasn't going to be making any great escape attempts in any case.

"I wonder if you can even see what your daughter has become since you made your little gambit." Dartz remarked quietly, hearing the tiny voice scream. "Soul division was quite an interesting innovation. What a pity that it didn't work out so well for you."

He balanced the man's soul on the end of one finger. "Now that you get to see her again, I wonder how she'll react to _you_, Toushiro Sonozaki…?"

_Click_.

"Er…Dartz-sama, who are you talking to?"

Dartz snapped his fingers and Sonozaki's soul disappeared into the wall again. Then he turned and leveled a glare at Amelda, who stood at the door with a slightly disturbed look on his face.

"No one." Dartz said coolly. "Do you have Kaiba's location?"

Amelda stumbled over his words for a fraction of a second before saying, "Er, yes! He's…he's coming to San Francisco tomorrow, just like you said. On an international flight."

"Good." Dartz replied, turning to face his minion fully. "Amelda, he will have nowhere to run. This will be the final confrontation. Kill him."

A vicious smile worked its way across Amelda's face. He had been waiting for this moment for years, Dartz knew. After all, he was the one who had destroyed the young man's life with a few well-placed illusions, before they had ever met. "Of course."

"You are dismissed." With that, Dartz turned back to the wall of souls.

He thought.

He reached for his next victim.

* * *

Director Lily Yamamoto was concerned.

As project director for the entire excavation effort, she had to make sure that everything was running smoothly. She was the one who managed the monetary sponsorships in order to get the most done on the sites in a given season, and the one the site managers turned to.

She was also a mother, and when her two children had reported an entourage of teenagers pouring into Professor Hopkins' site, she bit the inside of her cheek and tried to think of what to do next.

The simplest solution would be to boot the lot of them off the premises, but she was enough of a parent to be worried about where they would go otherwise. Ryuuto and Mana didn't remember seeing any adults with them, and so far the cars hadn't left. It was possible that none of them had anywhere else to stay—other than the dedicated researchers, like Hopkins, most of the site staff didn't even want to stay so far away from the city. For her part, Lily was too busy with managing the donations and grants that kept their research afloat to stay in the managers' trailer. She usually drove back to the city in time for dinner.

"Mama, what should we do?" Mana asked, looking up at her with wide blue eyes.

If it weren't for the fact that the site was practically her second home, she'd have been a lot more worried about Mana's concern. Six-year-olds shouldn't have to worry about rowdy teenagers damaging excavating equipment.

"Did they seem like good people?" Lily asked with a glance at her son, who was looking out the window.

"They were nice enough," Ryuuto replied, "if a little weird. They'll get along great with Rebecca, though, especially that starfish-headed kid."

Starfish? Rebecca Hopkins? What?

It was a bit of an open secret that, of the children of the various researchers and workers, Ryuuto and Rebecca were _not_ friends. They had never been openly hostile, but Ryuuto was competitive in his quiet way—once Rebecca had beaten him at Duel Monsters, he'd never forgotten. Lily sighed inwardly, hoping that her son's assessment of the group was only partly accurate. She didn't want any more trouble between the children. Not before New Years.

"Oniichan's just jealous." Mana said plainly. "They could drive, oniichan can't."

…_Okay then_. Mana had some strange thought processes sometimes. Ryuuto thought of cars as massive rolling boxes of death, and had sworn to never get a license. Though Mana probably didn't really know what he'd meant at the time, Lily didn't blame him. Not after what had happened to their father.

Ryuuto rolled his eyes when he though his sister wasn't looking. "Anyway, it's not so bad that we're going to need the shovel. I bet they just came to see Hopkins, whatever he's working on now."

Lily sighed. Professor Hopkins was always the strange one, going on about ancient Egypt and monsters and setting the world on fire with playing cards. She was glad that she hadn't caught that weirdness bug yet.

"That's good. I was worried I'd have to go cracking skulls again." Lily remarked, smirking a little. Her expression softened. "Anyway, you two had better get ready to go. No one wants to dig up old pots in the dark."

Ryuuto nodded, grabbing his backpack and Mana's lunchbox. Mana started picking up her crayons. Lily glanced at her laptop, long since neglected, and shut it with a shrug. She could work just as well from home—probably better, actually, since the excavation site's internet connection was slower than slow.

They all piled into the dusty old minivan just as, overhead, a faint green light arced across the sky. Ten thousand feet in the air, no one could hear a stolen soul scream.

* * *

_Somewhere on the edge of seeing, there is a world where monsters roam._

_Light flowed over curved white wings, outlining a massive silvery beast against the sky. In the mountains of the world beyond, the dragon gave a roar and beat its wings once, cutting its speed in half and hovering before landing. The Blue Eyes White Dragon looked up the edge of the mountain, toward the mouth of the nearby caves._

_All dragons roosted here, in these mountains. Even the false ones._

_Balanced slightly on its forepaws, the Blue Eyes clambered up over the stones and into the darkness. On the inside of the cave, crystals in the walls glowed brightly enough for even a warrior-type monster to find his or her way in. The white dragon's claws made harsh scrabbling noises on the stone and it had to duck its head in order to make its way into the smaller tunnels._

_After a few minutes of wandering through the rocky labyrinth, the dragon emerged from the tunnel and took its first steps onto the temple grounds._

"_Blue Eyes," said a voice, and the dragon looked around to see the Black Magician Girl floating nearby, looking anxious. "All three of the legendary dragons are gone."_

_The Blue Eyes gave a startled snort—those mounds of crystal hadn't so much as twitched in more than ten thousand years! And now they were just gone? Impossible._

_The Black Magician Girl caught the dragon's disbelief and just said, "The Pharaoh called Timaeus on the night when we monsters were first allowed into the mortal world."_

_The Blue Eyes growled—it had never, and would never, care about any king. It just wanted to know why the crystalline dragons were all suddenly out and about. They weren't so much monsters as powerful spells at this point, having been left alone for so long that their material power was limited without some sort of partnership. The thought that they could just get up and walk away…it was still hard to believe._

"_It's true," the spellcaster insisted. "Critias was called next, followed by Hermos. They have decided to fight the Leviathan again, with help."_

_Interesting. The great white dragon gave the spellcaster a brief nod to indicate that she should continue, preferably before it lost patience completely._

"_Hermos chose to follow a young man," she said, still bobbing around in the air nervously. "When the Orichalcos targeted him, his soul called for help, and Hermos answered. But Critias…he chose your master, Blue Eyes."_

_The dragon blinked and sat back on its hind legs, mulling over the new information._

"_I—" the Black Magician Girl began, but the dragon's tail lashed the air violently, silencing her._

_Ever since the first Blue Eyes White Dragon had been born, they had always been absolutely loyal. And since that first one, their masters had been equally faithful. Now, three of them were the constant companions of their first master's reincarnation, and they had no intention of leaving. They never had._

_And they never would._

_The great white dragon glanced at the nervous spellcaster and gave her a dismissive snort. There were some things that only the oldest monsters would ever understand. The Black Magician, perhaps._

"_You…you don't have a problem with it?" she asked, sounding surprised._

_The Blue Eyes ignored her and spread its wings out wide, preparing to launch itself from the precipice of the abandoned temple. Their master would need their help soon enough. And the Blue Eyes White Dragons would be waiting patiently for the command to kill his enemies._

_Just the way they always did._

* * *

The Equalizer.

The Ender of Arguments.

The Traveling Shovel of Death.

Former SCP-620.

Whether it has a mind or not, no one knows. It simply appears wherever combatants need weapons, or a hole needs digging.

At the moment, the battered old shovel was sticking upright in a pile of dirt outside the director's office.

Waiting.

* * *

**A/N:** This arc is getting…mood whiplash-y. Hold onto your hats.

Twinkletoes: Used as a reference to _Avatar: The Last Airbender_.

I still don't really know why I had Bakura tag along. I guess I felt sorry for his lack of screentime...

The Traveling Shovel of Death: A National Novel Writing Month meme. Someone has to get killed by a shovel in every story. Or it needs to involve Mr. Ian Woon. Or a trebuchet.

In case anyone's curious, the SCP code is a reference to the SCP Foundation (.org), and at the moment SCP-620 is an unoccupied number. Usually, they try to keep track of stuff that could break people's brains, or is otherwise simply odd. For example: the rock that falls sideways (and _only_ sideways), or a swimming pool that can teleport anyone who touches it into one of a dozen places. Five of which are in space. And that's not even counting the more _dangerous_ SCPs... Unfortunately, the all Foundation sites, personnel, and artifacts located in the current dimension were [DATA EXPUNGED] when [EXPUNGED] [REDACTED] [CENSORED]. Suffice to say Zorc had something to do with it.

And for all their scoffing about killer playing cards, most of the characters are going to see a lot more of the monsters therein than they probably would like by the end of this.


End file.
